We Need Help
by emilix
Summary: Claire has moved to Chicago, espcaping her past after the incidents in Racoon City and Harvardville. When she bumps into an old male accquantance on the street, she knows that she can't hide from her past forever. Neither can he. Leon/ Claire.
1. Chapter 1

_AN: This is my very first fic, ever. I have a few chapters on my laptop, and will update them accordingly. Dedicated to Hobohunter. Reading her fics gave me an inspiration to write my own. Sorry for the short first chapter. -Em_

XXX

Claire stumbled around the streets of Chicago, the town she recently called her own. After the Racoon City incident, she told herself she was moving far away from the Racoon City which is now in shambles, and closer to Chris, whom she had found thanks to the email she sent in Rockfort Island to Leon. She didn't try to make any effort in contacting anyone after her incidents with Umbrella thinking that meeting these people would only send her spiralling down the nightmarish memory lane again. She never told Leon of her move, she never made any open press conferences about that night only because she didn't know whether she could handle such situations.

She opted for a quiet life in Chicago, working for a company called Terra Save. "Preventing what had happen to me to anyone else" has always been her motto, and her drive to continue working in Terra Save. Living alone, Claire had her share of "my time" and was never bored of it. Afterall, if she's alone she knows nothing could possibly happen to her.

On this bright sunny morning, Claire was picking up some groceries before attending an appointment. As she walked into the grocery mart, she felt her heart stop. It felt almost like she was being punched in her gut with old memories. She shook her head and stared at the familiar brooding shoulders that moved in the opposite street. She allowed herself to back out of the grocery mart and wait for the person to turn around. The figure might have possessed mind reading skills as he turned around right when Claire desperately wanted him to.

Both of them met each other's gaze. His face frowned in uncertainty, and she bit her lips as the reality sunk in.

"Claire?" He whispered at first, and then repeated in a higher tone. He walked towards her and planted himself in front of her as she continued staring at the illusive figure in front of her, don't know what to believe. "Leon..." She murmured, in disbelief. Here she is, running away from her past and, it had to come back to haunt her. "Can I buy you coffee?" Leon, always the gentleman, asked and led her into the nearest coffee shop.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as they found a quaint little coffee shop around the corner, they took no time to order their beverage of choice. After a short awkward silence, Leon broke the ice. "Hey, I'm sorry we never got to meet under normal circumstances as promised. I tried looking for you. But it always led me to a dead end. " His voice sounded calm. Too calm, almost rehearsed. Maybe that's what the Government Training does to a person.

"I've just been busy. I'm sorry. And I'm not one who remembers to forward her mails or calls to her new home." She lied blatantly. She knew telling him that she was deliberately moving away from him and everyone else would hurt him, badly. Leon detected the lie and decided to disregard it. "I can't believe all it took was a trip to Chicago to bump into you. If I had known, I wouldn't have spent all my time searching for you, sweetheart."

"Funny how fate usually brings us together, but this time in a not so horrible situation. So, what exactly have you been doing? Why are you in Chicago?" She asked, absent-mindedly playing with the sugar packet in front of her. They both ordered a tall dark and sat in a quiet booth, far from attention. "I've been continuing my work with the Government and I have some time off so I thought I'd take some of my accumulated paid leave days to visit Chicago. I was raised here for a good five years before my dad brought us to Washington." He said, staring into the eyes he had missed ever so dearly. "What brings you here?" Leon asked.

"I live her. Yeah, hard to believe, but I do." She pushed her tall dark coffee to the side to get a clearer view of Leon. Tall, lines of ageing definitely visible on his face, scars from yesteryears embedded onto his forearm, eyes blue and nonchalant; a telltale sign of trainings he had from the government. And, of course, his golden blonde mane, something she had to admit she had missed.

"Wow, you do? And, how's your brother?" He asked, also checking out his old acquaintance. Middle aged, cheery with the hints of old memories in her eyes, her fiery red hair in a high pony, as always. She looked contented, and of course to his eyes, she is and always had been the most beautiful thing he had seen. So yes, maybe he did find Ada attractive, and Angela hot, but no one could come close to holding the title "beautiful" apart from Claire.

"My brother is good. He too, lives in Chicago. That's one of my main reasons to live here. So I'm closer to him. He lives on the other side of town with Jill Valentine." She smiled at the lady's name. "Jill? As in the STARS cop? Did they get hitched?" Leon asked. "No, heavens, Jill hate the idea of marriage and signing marriage forms. She believes it's just a stupid piece of paper that does more harm than good to a relationship, but Chris is adamant in being a traditionalist and is always bringing up that subject." Claire said. Leon laughed and agreed.

Then, his piercing blue eyes peered into hers, his emotions showing through entirely. "Hey." Leon said, so soft it sounded like a growl. She smiled. "Hey." She replied, equally hushed. "How are you?" He asked casually but Claire understood the double meaning to it. Leon didn't mean to ask how she was living her life in Chicago. He meant how she was doing coping with the aftermath of the nightmarish day. "I'm fine. I've been coping well. Distractions always help." She said, answering the subliminal message. "And you?" Claire asked. "Never been better." He replied to both questions. "Claire, I've missed you."

She nodded, not knowing what to reply. After a short pause, and a long sigh, she reached out to his hands, placed flatly on the table. He willingly gripped her hands and listened to what she had to say. "Leon, it's not that I don't miss you. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about Sherry, or you. It's just that... I'm afraid if I said it out loud, I might be a sadist. Because missing someone means having emotions, positive ones, towards a person. What I mean to say is that the outbreak in racoon city was nothing but devastating, and to admit that it was a good thing I met you in Racoon City would make me a sadist for thinking there was some good in the outbreak after all." She explained her emotions the best she could.

"Take it as a positive thing, Claire. Something along the lines of, it being the silver lining of the very, very dark cloud." Leon stated. "Ada wasn't silver enough for you?" Claire snickered and stopped herself halfway after she realised what she had said. After the Airport outbreak in Harvardville, Claire and Leon were put onto a flight to South Africa to be quarantined for a week before they were fit to live in the normal world. They stayed in a special recovery centre to make sure they weren't infected (along with the remaining survivors). They were put in isolated areas, where there was hardly any contact between each "inmate". However, the flight to South Africa gave them some time to recuperate, console each other and catch up, but that was the last time they ever spoke to each other. During that time on flight, Claire decided that it was best to sever all ties with Umbrella, including acquaintances like Leon. Leon had told her about how Ada was found again in Spain, debunking their beliefs that she was dead. Leon also told her how he believed Ada finally got caught cheating death by Mother Nature and met her end in Spain. Whether or not she was alive, he couldn't really be bothered because it hurt him the last time he cared about her death, he strongly believed that he should not be hurt again for the same reason.

"I'm sorry." Claire sincerely apologized after realising what she had brought up. "It's okay." Leon brushed it aside, face as expressionless as before. "So speaking of women in your life, how's Angela?"

"We tried 'hanging out' once, after Harvardville, but it was disastrous. I think the adrenaline of the situation in Harvardville took over my brain. She just REALLY isn't my type," he paused, "and really there will not be a woman in this world who can stand having a man who is never at home and is always being shipped off on missions at any god given hour." He fiddled with his cuffs, and then looked up and spoke again, "how about you?" Claire shook her head. "Me? The last I checked, I was straight, Kennedy. "She simply said. He kicked her foot lightly and gave her a small smile. "In the love department, Red." He asked.

"I've had my share of company on lonely Friday nights, but they're usually short lived. I think I scare men off in general. For a guy to be carrying a gun around it seems manly, but for a girl to do so and have an arsenal in her closet, it's just intimidating. Yeah so we live in a sexist world, I can't help that." She said. "And after what we've been through, I'm definitely not giving up my gun in the name of love." She added the last one rather bitterly. Leon just looked sideways, away from her; he pointed at the waiter and beckoned for a bagel.

"So, you're still working for Terra Save, then?" he asked, grabbing the bagel from the waiter and tore half for Claire. She nodded her head "I would take you around the head office to show you what we're doing but I'm afraid I'm not heading to the office today. I was going to pick up some groceries today and then head off for an appointment. Maybe tomorrow. Where do you live?" Claire asked. She was surprised at how normal everything was going on. The wretched feelings she thought she would have felt when in contact with her past had not materialize.

"Hunnigan booked me a hotel near South Shore. I am not one for sightseeing, as long as I get to see Lincoln park and get me some deep dish Chicago pizza, I'm happy." He said. "You should have stayed in Washington then... Why did you choose Chicago?" Claire rolled her eyes. For a Secret Agent for the Government, he sure isn't adventurous when it comes to travelling. He just shrugged and left the question unanswered. "So all you want is pizza and perhaps a picture on Lincoln park to show your mom that you've been in Chicago." She translated. "Basically, yes." He said.

Claire stared at him for a moment, deep in thoughts. "What, am I really that boring?" Leon asked after noticing her long, thoughtful gaze. "How long have you been in Chicago and how long are you going to be here for?" She asked, ignoring his question. "Just landed this morning, leaving in two weeks. Rented a car and drove here to get some food because I realised that the hotel Hunnigan booked me in was a swanky posh one, which served all sorts of cuisine at its buffet except local Chicago stuff. I shouldn't be one to be choosey after what I've gone through, but I decided that I am on a holiday and I should get what I want. " He rambled uncharacteristically like how he would when he's happy.

"Hmm, how do you feel about getting a refund for the rest of the trip? Lincoln Park is awfully far from South Shore, Leon. I live in Logan Square, there's a great mom & pop pizzeria across the street and it is a stone throw from Lincoln Park, tell you what, why don't you stay in my place?" She offered.

Leon chortled at her humour whilst Claire was amazed at her bravery. Inviting someone she was hiding from into her home. "Claire, Claire. I can't do that. I've got things sorted out at the hotel, plus, you'll be at work all day the last thing you'd want to see is a Leon S Kennedy lying on your couch when you get back from work."

"Oh, ho ho! I see what's our problem here, mister. If sleeping on the couch is too understated for Mr. Secret agent, let me assure you that I indeed have a bed for you." She winked. She started to realised that she was wrong all along, that the presence of Leon did not bring open up old wounds. "Do you, now?" Leon challenged cockily and stared her down. "Yeah, Chris's room is just next to mine." She laughed as she broke off the stare down. "I don't know about sleeping on Mr. Redfield's bed he seems really huge to be sharing a bed with." Leon joked. "Don't be silly. I only had the bed up for him whenever he or Jill decides to stay over for the weekend or something. I should stop calling it Chris room, and start calling it-""Leon's?" he tested her. "The guest bedroom." She finished her sentence, curtly.

"So what do you say?" She asked. "Listen, I have to go now, but I'll definitely think about it. Give me your cell number and I'll give you a call when I've worked things out with Hunnigan." He said casually. At the drop of the word "cell number" Claire froze. "What's wrong?" Leon asked as her face grew rock solid. She wondered whether all these years of moving to another state and changing numbers was worth throwing away... She swallowed hard and decided it was as she took out a pen from her bag and scribbled her number on a napkin. Leon said thank you, paid for the food (much to Claire's dismay, stating that he's on a holiday and shouldn't need to be a gentleman for once. But no one can change Leon's mind when it's made up.) And left.

Claire walked out after a while and went back into the grocery mart, finishing what she was supposed to do in the first place.


	3. Chapter 3

Leon retreated back to his rented car and pondered upon Claire's offer. Does he really want to live with her for two weeks? He knows two weeks isn't really much but can he handle being with her for two weeks. He was trained to be more than this wimpy kid who can't live with a woman. The thing is, it wasn't really the woman, but the memories she might trigger. Every time he hears the word racoon, a shiver would creep up the back of his neck. He felt guilty telling Claire that he was indeed okay and wasn't thinking about Racoon City. In actual fact, he sometimes questions his sanity.

Surprisingly Claire believed his story of coming to Chicago on a holiday. She should be one to understand that the only thing he hates more than zombies is travelling. If he could, he would spend his holidays at home, nursing a beer and probably eat Chinese take out. If he wanted to travel, he would have just gone to work instead.

"Hunnigan, I need to ask you of a favour." He spoke to my transmitter before entering the ar. "What is it, Leon?" She asked. "Can you ask for a refund from the hotel?" He said, after a long thoughtful pause.

Claire headed into the building in front of her. It was a hidden building amongst the other corporate buildings but she's been there so many times, she could have walked towards it blindfolded. The glass doors slided open as she entered the main lobby and walked towards the secretary. "Hi. I'm here for an appointment with Dr. Sarah Wilkenson?" She told the lady by the desk. "Yes, Dr. Wilkenson is waiting for you in room 5; I trust you know your way around, Ms. Redfield." The lady behind the desk addressed her appropriately. Claire thanked her and made her way to the room.

"Hello, Claire. How are you today?" the lady in room 5 greeted her. "I've been good." Claire said, as she closed the door behind her, which read "Dr. Wilkenson, Psy. MD."

"Well, let's discuss about your progress." Dr. Wilkenson gave a warm smile.

In the middle of her session, her phone rang. "Hey Claire." a voice floated to her ear. "Hi, Kennedy. Listen, Leon I can't talk right now I'm sort of in an appointment." Claire said. "Yeah I just called you to tell you that I've decided to pig out at your place for my duration of the stay. Like you said, you could take me around." Leon responded. "Great. I'll text you my address once I'm done here you can stop by with your things by 6 tonight. I'll be back by then." Claire said and bade goodbye. Dr. Wilkenson looked a Claire. "Sorry for eavesdropping, but was that man on the phone Leon Kennedy?" She asked, hiding any expression. Claire frowned upon her intrusiveness. "Yes." She said simply. Leon was a well known hero, a survivor like her. It wasn't uncommon for someone to recognise his name.

--- 5.30pm---

Claire entered her apartment and immediately started making her apartment up for Leon. She got changed into a comfortable pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. Even in her home clothes, she had her pocket knife safely in her back pocket.

She was scared. She was scared of how Leon in her apartment would be for her, mentally, since she was in such a wretched state. She too, lied to Leon about being okay. Both of them just wanted to upkeep a strong facade in front of each other. She headed to Chris's vacant room and started making the bed up. She straightened out the edges and slipped on a bed sheet. The room smelled faintly of Jill's perfume and Chris' funny aftershave. Both of them had stayed in this room more than she can remember, for weekend gatherings, just to catch up. Claire thought about Leon as she made the bed. How uncanny it was that he could just turn up in Chicago and bump into her, and inviting him to live with her. She shook her head at the impossibility of the situation. Just as she pulled out a pillowcase from the cupboard, the doorbell rang.

"It's open, Leon, come in." She yelled from the room, unwilling to stop whatever she was doing. "Claire?" He called out. "Yeah, in here. You'll be sleeping here, hope that's alright with you." She called from the bedroom.

She heard Leon wheeling in his luggage into the room she was standing in. He looked a little tired from a day's travelling. Keeping up with the weather, he was clad in a simple dark tee shirt over jeans. Not something he was usually seen wearing. His luggage screamed "man on the go". It was compact, and spacious, types of bag men haul all over airports without wasting a moment at security checks. "Yeah, this room's perfect... I managed to get Hunnigan to cancel the rest of the booking at the hotel, so you better not decide to kick me out. It's peak season and I heard that someone already booked over my rooms." Leon joked. "As long as you don't touch the ice cream in the freezer, you're welcomed to stay." She winked. "Houston, we have a problem." Leon said declaring his sweet tooth. Claire gave him one of her famous smiles. "The kitchen is way over there. The pantry is half empty, don't expect too much though. Help yourself with anything you'd want, except-" "The ice cream?" He finished her sentence. "Yes, except the ice cream, and the beer. There's the TV area, the toilet is attached to the room and that's the study. If you want to keep your guns in a save place you can keep them with mine in this closet." She pointed to Chris's closet. Leon laughed and nodded his head.

"So, this is it." He said, giving her a half smile. "Yeap. Pretty much." She tossed the pillowcase towards him, beckoning him to do it himself. He caught the pillowcase and stuffed it with a stray pillow. "Um, thanks, for everything." He said, walking towards her and giving her a hug. He realised this was the first time he had any proper physical contact with her since the last time they left Harvardville.

Claire knew that he had crossed the mental line she had set for herself. Her phobia of her past and people in it has been so neurotic lately. Sighing, she hugged Leon back, ducking her head under his chin and arm around his neck. She had no idea how much she had needed this until he had hugged her. Leon started to speak, "I know it was hard for you, it was for me too but we-"Claire shut him up by shaking her head and said, "Shh... Just don't say anything." She pulled him closer to feel his heart beat against hers, she breathed his scent in, his smell slowly reminded her of all the times she was in Leon's embrace for protection, during Racoon City and Harvardville.

She knew he would bring back bitter memories but having him here would help her overcome it. Leon kissed her forehead gently. As he inched closer, Claire gasped and jumped back. Leon looked at her, puzzled. "I... I'm sorry." Leon said. "No, no it's not you." Claire backed out of the embrace and started looking at his waist and laughed. "Your gun was touching my waist... It's very, very cold." She laughed and pointed to the metallic sheen visible on the leather holster.

Leon laughed off the situation and helped her out with getting his bed made up.

After they had a simple dinner that Claire had whipped out of the freezer to the microwave, Claire brought up the idea of meeting Chris and Jill, since Leon hasn't seen either of them for a long time. "Maybe tomorrow, sweetheart. I'm dead" Leon drawled as she chucked his plates into the dishwasher. "Speaking of schedules, have you planned out what you want to do throughout the week? I can take a few days off here and there to take you out-" "NO!" Leon exclaimed. Claire squinted and held both her hands up, "oh kay, calm down Kennedy, just being a hostess." She said, surrendering. "I mean, please don't bother about me. Having me around at your place is enough burden to you already. Plus, I have my afternoons sorted out." He said vaguely. Claire wasn't one to pry and left him at it. "As long as you promise to let me take you out in the evenings." She said.

"Yes, after dusk I promise you can take me annnnnnnnywhere you like, Claire." Leon said, his voice trailing to his designated bedroom. "What a flirt." Claire huffed under her breath as she too shuffled towards the study area. Having Leon around wasn't as hard as she imagined. In fact, it was almost comforting. Still, she preferred to have her guard up just in case. The last time she got a call from a reporter from Harvardville she wasn't really in the best shape. The flashes of horrible images hit her so hard that she found herself a crumpled heap, just sobbing. She would never want Leon to see her in that state. Especially, if she was reciting Steve's name. She knew she was young and naive and was stupid for allowing herself to love someone she hardly knew. She's long over Steve but still, seeing someone you know die right in front of you isn't really an image she could shake out. 

Claire took out her paperwork from Terra Save and sorted them out on the table. She wasn't really in the mood for work but someone has to do it and it was unavoidable. Exhausted would be the right term to describe her feelings especially after her long day. She stopped her work, placed her head in her hands and rested her eyes. She could hear Leon showering in the neighbouring room. She could hear the air-condition blowing above her. Normal. Everything was normal. No zombie crashing through windows, no freaky lickers, no dying loved ones, no troubles. Nothing.

Maybe skipping tomorrow would be a good idea, she thought to herself. Though Leon was pretty serious about not wanting her to take a day off, she decided that maybe having lunch with Chris and Jill would be good.

Whilst she had her head down in her palms, she felt something touch her forearm. Instinctively, she pulled out her gun from her thigh holster and pointed it right at the thing touching her.

Shell shocked, Leon backed up holding his hand up. "Woah, woah, woah! Easy, Redfield. It's just me." Leon coaxed and calmed her down. He took the gun out of her hands and examined it, habitually. She was so deep in her thoughts that she did not hear Leon's shower stopping. Claire looked up, and gave him a tired, sorry look. "I'm sorry." She whispered, brushing her hair back with her hand, wondering what is WRONG with her. "Do you always do this?" Leon asked, in a non- judging, yet analytical manner. He made sure the hammer wasn't cocked and returned the broken butterfly to her. "No, I... " She sighed, trying to explain the erratic, overly anxious behaviour that she has adapted to, unfortunately, after the zombie incidents.

"You should really get some rest, Claire." Leon said picking up her loose papers for her and shuffling them into a neat pile beside her. Claire gave him a once over, he was in boxers, and had an old black tee shirt on. Hair still damp, hung loosely over his eyes and smelled faintly of Chris's shampoo that he had left behind. She can't help to notice that he was really good looking, it wasn't that she had not noticed before, just that he was always either in uniform or smart casual outfits, never just in pyjamas. Those outfits usually makes a man look good in any given situation, but looking at Leon, Claire was impressed by how effortlessly good looking he was. Or, it could be her mind playing tricks due to exhaustion.

She snapped out of her daze and asked Leon, "Hey, I was thinking of having lunch with Chris and Jill tomorrow, what do you think?"

Leon hesitated. "I sort of have plans sorted out in the afternoon. Do you think you can try for dinner instead?" He asked. Claire grabbed her phone and dialled Chris's number. She told her elder brother about Leon's surprise visit and how she'd like him over for dinner. "You can't make it for dinner? And you'll be gone for three weeks after tomorrow? With Jill? And when, exactly, were you planning to tell me this?" Claire accused her brother. She had every right to be mad. Claire definitely doesn't want to have to look for her brother again. She ended the phone conversation with the phrase "we'll talk later" and hung up.

"Sorry, was I not supposed to be in here?" He asked, feeling the tension as the youngest Redfield scolded her brother. "No, not at all. If you had to walk out every time Chris and I argued, you'd be better off just staying in the next room every time he comes over. Sometimes it's better if I had just stopped looking for him. Then again, it's Chris, he would have found a way to find me anyway." Claire rambled. "Anyway, he's only free tomorrow afternoon and will be gone from tomorrow evening till three weeks from now. If you can't make it, you don't have to see him. It's not important." Claire collected her pile of paper Leon had stacked for her and started to head towards her bedroom. "No, no. It's fine. I can reschedule my plans tomorrow to another date. I want to see you brother again, and Jill." Leon said, scratching his head. "So it's settled then, tomorrow lunch with my brother and Jill." Claire said, yawning. "Really, I tiring you out already?" Leon asked, cocking his head to one side. "More than ever, Mr Kennedy. Goodnight." Claire said closing her bedroom door behind her.


	4. Chapter 4

Claire was woken up by a loud bang on her door, "Hey, um, I think you're going to be late for work." He awkwardly talked to Claire's door. "Ugh, I can't hear you, come in." She grunted. He led himself in, and stood by her doorframe. "I said you're going to be late for work, Claire." He said more sternly. "I'm taking a day off. Why do you think I scheduled the lunch?" She groaned, pulling the pillows over her head. "I thought you were going to head out from work for lunch to meet up with them and then go back to work. What did I say about skipping work for me?" Leon nagged her.

"Don't be too full of yourself; I didn't skip work for you, honey. I was tired." She mumbled in her pillow. She was never an early riser. Only when forced to. Like, work. "Hey, I rescheduled my afternoon for you. The least you can do is not making me feel like I should have just gone back to bed." Leon said, though still in boxers, was ready to head out to grab some Chicago pizza. "A) you rescheduled your afternoon for my brother, not me. And b) Just go back to bed, Kennedy." She grumbled. "I am not functioned to work that way. Once I'm up, I'm up. Standard Operating Procedure." He joked.

She peeked through her pillow at him, red hair a tangled mess in front of her. "Since you mentioned it, can you make me breakfast?" She asked. "Already have." He replied. She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed. "That was a trick question; I have hardly anything in the pantry to make cucumber slices." She eyed him. Leon smiled, "That's only because you don't have cucumbers." "I know I told you I picked up some things in the grocery store yesterday, but mind you when I say that I mean I picked up Lighter Fluid. There is no way you could have done anything with a tub of ice cream, a can of beer, a tube of honey and three slices of yesterday's bread." Claire said. "You'd be surprised."

Reluctantly, she got up and stopped at the door. "Thank you." She kissed him on the cheek gratefully and dragged herself into the kitchen. Leon smiled. He has gotten kissed by a number of women, out of pity out of false emotions, but when Claire did that, he genuinely felt something run down his back. Obediently, he tailed her. This too was the first time he'd ever seen her in just pyjamas and he's glad to know he is contented with what he's seeing. Claire, wearing cotton shorts and a simple white tee looked radiant in the bright sunlight, with no makeup.

She kept her hair in a messy ponytail. "Definitely doesn't smell like my kitchen." Claire commented on the mouth- watering aroma. She sat down and saw the breakfast spread; scrambled eggs, baked beans and ham, two pieces of toast, and orange juice. "The last I checked the day old toast was pumpernickel, not white bread." Claire commented on the difference of bread, rather than the presence of the other foodstuff that had not belonged in her pantry. She opened the cabinets to take two plates and a pair of cutleries. "I dropped by the grocery store an hour ago." Leon admitted as he sat down and took a portion of the breakfast he had cooked up. "Did they teach you how to impress ladies in your training course?" She laughed, eating the eggs and baked beans. "My mom did." He winked. "I feel really bad now. You're my guest and I didn't even put in effort in making you feel at home. "Claire admitted. "Having me, as your guest, I think that's enough of a punishment already. The least I could do is serve you breakfast." Claire smiled. "Charming, as always. Too bad I'm not buying it." Leon threw his hands up. "I've given up. You're going to live your life a spinster. And there's nothing I can do about it." "A spinster never has to care about people. Just, herself." Claire said. "Mmmm, last night it sounded like you were mocking Jill about not getting married. Looks like you're on her side after all. Maybe one day you'll find out that you might like the idea of having someone taking care of you." Leon added, in all seriousness. "Leon?" Claire suddenly spoke in the midst of chewing her food. "I believe that is my name." Leon said, hoping she was going to add to what he had said to her. "Did you walk down to the grocery store in your boxers?" Claire said in sudden realisation. "Don't you?" Leon asked mockingly.

"So, about Chris, what's he up to now?" Leon asked. "He works still works for BSAA, with Jill. They've been travelling around quite a bit. The only reason why their relationship can work out is because she's travelling just as much as he is and most of the time they travel together." Claire mentioned. "How sly of the BSAA... Making them work on the same projects to save cost on hotel rooms." Leon laughed. "I'm surprised he could still handle going to work. I mean he is reminded about all the bioterrorism incidents every day. When I went back to Spain to save Ashley Graham, and when I saw those beings... I thought I was going to go insane, because here I am a few years later, faced with the same nightmare as before." Leon said. "Chris is different in that way, I suppose you can say. He believes the only way he can find peace and closure is when he wipes the face of the earth clean from Bio terrorisms. Jill too." Claire said, as she finished her breakfast and pondered on what to do next. She never takes a break from work and all the free time left her clueless.

"Where are we going and what time should we meet them?" Leon asked. "I told them you wanted to try a nice Chicagoan pizza. So we're meeting at the pizzeria not too far off from here. Walking distance. We set the time to 12.30; I hope you're okay with that. I can always take you out for coffee if you're hungry before then." Claire said, playing hostess. "You do know it's 11 now, right?" Leon raised an eyebrow at her remark on his appetite. "I just had breakfast." He reminded her.

Her grey eyes grew wide. "Don't look too surprised, Claire. I did." Leon laughed at her expression. "No, wait, it's 11?" She asked again, hopping up from the dining table. "11.03, to be exact." He said. She cursed under her breath and scrambled to her study and shut the door. Leon shook his head in laughter to pick up her plate to do the dishes for her. "You okay there, Claire?" He called out to her. Her reply was silence. He quickly rinsed the plates off and chucked the plates in the dishwasher. Making his way to the study to check on her, he stopped at the door. "Yes, Dr. Wilkenson, I need to reschedule for today. Yes, I know I'm really last minute, I was supposed to call in yesterday to tell you but I completely forgot and told myself I'll call you in the wee hours of the morning. Yes, everything is fine. Tomorrow, 11am? Fine. "She said, and hung up. Leon rushed off to the TV room to avoid looking like he was eavesdropping. So she wasn't fine after all, Leon thought to himself. He decided not to push her to confess about her troubles, instead letting her come to him whenever she feels like it.

"Work related, huh... Are you alright?" Leon asked Claire nonchalantly as she came out of the study. "I swear to God, if you ask me that question again, I will not hesitate to actually pull the trigger on you." Claire sighed, almost in a serious tone. Leon tried bringing the mood a little brighter; "You wouldn't do that. For one, you really hate house chores; you wouldn't want to clean up after all that blood splatter." "Who says I'll shoot you at home?" She countered jokingly, voice a lot calmer. "Anyway, I hope you have plans tomorrow afternoon, I'm going back to work tomorrow, probably will pop out during lunch time but I hardly have time to meet up with you." She said. Leon knew instantly what she was up to. "Yeah, of course. I told you not to worry about me. I'll go check out the local gun shop tomorrow. See what delights Chicago has to offer, armour wise." He said. "They have customization in the shops here. Maybe you can score yourself one with little hearts and butterflies on it. It would show your personality." Claire joked.

"Shouldn't you get ready?" Leon reminded her.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: I'm making just a minor change in this chapter. Keaydee told me that she'd prefer me writing the dialogues in separate lines, so that's exactly what I'll be doing starting this chapter ;) thank you so much for your reviews, and thank you for sticking with me! All these feedback has been great for me so far to improve upon my fic as this is my very first fic. Once again, a very big thank you to all the readers, reviewers and subscribers. _

XXX

"So when did you last meet up with your brother?" Leon asked, adjusting his light jacket. It may be spring, but the weather was a little chilly.

"Last weekend... Jill and him came over, there was something on the TV they wanted to watch and begged me to watch along with them. So I did." Claire said, finding her keys.

"What was it on?" Leon asked, lifting up the tablecloth on the shoe rack to expose her keys, and tossing it to her.

"I don't know, wasn't paying attention. Kinda tells you how bad their tastes in movies is." Claire caught the keys and waved it up in a sign of gratitude.

"Thanks for the heads up. I'll be ready to decline politely whenever they try to take me out on a movie or something." Leon said, now waiting for Claire to put her flats on. She wasn't really one with heeled footwear, unless absolutely necessary.

"Oh, I won't put it past you to like their kinda movies." Claire said, insulting the ex-policeman's taste in movies.

Leon frowned. "You joke now, Claire. When you're out in the cold and wearing that, I won't be one to offer you my jacket." He pointed to the tank top and linen pants she was wearing.

"You always think I'm going to need to depend on you to survive eh, Kennedy. Why, thank you for saving me in Racoon City and helping me in Rockfort Island, but hey! News flash, when you were out there with your string of girls in Washington, I was here living on my own, surviving perfectly well without you, or any other being. Don't judge me." Claire angrily exclaimed.

If there was one thing she didn't like more than people stealing her ice cream, that would be people judging her as clingy, always depending on others- sort of woman.

"Look, if you want me to apologize for a joke I cracked, okay. I'm sorry. But accusing me about women in Washington, come on, Claire. You didn't even know where I was before I came here. Who's judging who? Plus, in case you've forgotten, I actually have a job. With the government. I don't spend my time frivolously with women day by day." Leon defended himself.

Claire shook her head and walked out of the apartment without waiting for him. He followed behind, brooding as always.

They didn't speak throughout the entire time they were walking to the pizzeria, and neither wanted to start a conversation. Claire led the way as Leon kept at her pace. As soon as they arrived at the pizzeria, Leon chose a spot closer to the entrance so that Chris and Jill would be able to spot them. They sat across each other, without a word.

Leon hoped that the pair would have been there first so that he doesn't have to sit through this silence, but lady luck was definitely not on his side today. The waiter came over and asked for their orders. Claire told him that they were still waiting for two more. The waiter left promptly.

Claire fiddled with her phone whilst Leon checked his schedules on his palm pilot. Gadgets agents carry, even on holiday. Claire had always wondered what kind of plans he could possibly have on a holiday. Then again, he was a man of mystery. No one really knows what he does in the government, apart from himself and the people who assign him, of course. He was on duty to foresee the president's daughter's safety, but that's just a tiny part of his work.

After five minutes of waiting, Claire decided to call Chris and Leon took the menu to see what was good.

"Hey. Where are you?" Claire asked, clearly annoyed.

On the other side of the phone, Chris said, "I'm on the way. Blame it on Jill. She took forever to decide on shoes. Why don't you go ahead and order first. You know what we like, just order that, and whatever Leon fancies. It's his holiday after all."

Claire bade goodbye and looked at Leon. "He wanted you to choose whatever pizza you want."

"Bacon and Beef." He replied, expressionless, emotionless.

Claire waved down a waiter and ordered pepperoni for Chris, whilst Leon ordered his pizza of his choice. Cokes went all round.

"One day, you're going to remember that you once liked company." Leon said, finally. Claire shot him down with her eyes. This would be a good time to use that famous proverb on how looks could kill.

"I was never in a serious relationship. I never had to share my company with anyone and I was doing fine. I don't think you would understand that satisfactory sense of solitude though." Claire spoke, crisp and clear.

Leon dodged the verbal bullet towards him and spoke again, "I wasn't talking about a significant other. I was talking about the company of a family."

He knew better than to bring up family issues with Claire, but he went on anyway. Before Claire could rip his head apart, Jill walked in, followed closely by Chris. "I'm not done with you." Claire spoke softly, but harshly whilst putting on a smile for their new company.

"Leon! It's been too long!" Chris exclaimed and gave him a strong handshake. Jill greeted him likewise with a great big hug, and then proceeded to greet Claire in the same manner. Chris greeted Claire with their customary 'What's up' nod. Leon noticed that Chris had aged a little since he last seen him, but he was as buff as ever. Jill seemed a little more peaceful than the last time he had met her. She seemed more at ease, but had a hint of the same 'no nonsense' expression as Claire's.

"What are you doing here? If I were you, I'd be in sunny Hawaii or, some tropical country for a holiday. Freaking Chicago." Jill snorted.

Leon smiled at them, and offered them to sit down to make time to compose a logical answer to that simple question. He really wished everyone would get off his back for his weird choice of a holiday spot.

"I do like the tropics, but who wouldn't want to visit the ball parks here? I was born here, and was raised here till I was five, and then I never saw Chicago again, so I guess you could say I've never really been here. Can't really remember anything about this state." Leon joked, pleased at his impromptu answer.

"I got a hold of the report you wrote for the government about the outbreak in Spain and your encounter with the Las Palagas. Apart from the fact that it was 187 pages long, it must have been hell for you to see that happening again after what you went through in Racoon City with Claire." Chris said, sipping on his drink.

"Yeah it was, especially when I had someone else to take guard of, and that other person would have gotten me fired if I had asked her to help me kill some of them. The president's daughter is a handful at times. Anyway, I heard about your encounter with the enhanced version of the Palagas as well in Kijuju." Leon strolled down memory lane.

"Those were just slightly different from the ones in Spain. I'm surprised they got away with creating an enhanced virus. The only thing I pray for now is that none of the progenous virus samples are available." Chris said.

"I think our biggest worry is if the G or T virus gets out." Jill quipped.

"Or the T-Veronica." Claire chipped in, and shuddered.

Before they could go on with their discussion, the pizzas came. The waiter served their pizza and they ate continuing a mindless chatter.

"So, Jill, Chris. Where are you guys heading off to tonight?" Claire asked.

"It's really nothing that big. We were needed to attend this meeting thing in New York and it included training modules and tasks. Basically, just further training. It usually just takes a week, but Jill's training course ran two weeks ahead of mine, so we decided to just stay there for the whole three weeks. No point in travelling alone to the same destination one week after the other." Chris explained.

"Yeah, and I have some paper work to sort out as well in the head office in New York. That would probably take up most of my free days up after my training module." Jill shook her head. "...and I really dislike paperwork."

"Tell me about it." Leon rolled his eyes in reference to his horrific 187 page report on this Spain "expedition".

He spent days and days at home, recovering from the incident with a variety of non- alcoholic liquids and medication. During that period, he was forced to pen out this experience in Spain, painfully reliving the experience once again, this time with a computer and bitter memories. Together with the Racoon City aftermath, that was one of his hardest times in life.

"So, how long are you putting up at Claire's?" Chris asked, with a hint of curiosity laced in his voice.

"Just a fortnight." He kept his speeches about Claire short and simple. He didn't want them to know about the argument they had prior to this.

"He is staying in the guest room?" Jill asked Claire, catching on the unusual silence between them.

"Yes, he is." Claire said, without blinking, also trying to avoid any topics that involved talking about Leon.

"So, are you two...? "Chris started the sentence, and hoped he didn't have to finish it. He was really protective over Claire and if he had to hear it, he would have pounded Leon there in the pizzeria.

"NO!" Both of them said in unison.

Jill nodded slowly, trying to figure out why they weren't even going out. It only seemed natural to her since they've known each other a long time, and it seemed rather obvious that they have a great friendship between them. Otherwise Claire wouldn't have let him stay. To Jill, Claire was a really protected person. No one could just drop by her place as and when they like. She doesn't even give her key to Chris. Offering Leon a place to stay is very unlike Claire.

Their friendly conversation continued smoothly albeit Chris and Claire's tiny squabbles and Leon and absence of speech between Claire and Leon. They stayed on catching up and talking till the evening approached. It was 4 before Jill announced that she had to finish sorting out her stuff for their departure tonight.

"It was really good talking to you again, Leon. What a pleasure it is to see you again." Jill said.

The only time they met was when Chris was introduced to Leon a few weeks prior to Claire's email to Leon from Rockfort Island. Even then, Jill was preoccupied with her own tasks at hand and didn't really have the time to be introduced properly.

Chris agreed with Jill and called for the bill. It took them a good 5 minutes to fight for the bill. Finally, Chris managed to steal the tab from Leon and paid for it.

"I always found this funny. When Claire and I were younger, we used to push the bill towards each other or if we were with friends we'd make someone else pay for it, or at least put it on their tab. But now that we're older we feel like we're obliged to pay and hence do the exact opposite which is fight to pay for the bill." Chris laughed, revealing a little of their past.

Leon barely knows of Claire's past. All he knew was that their parents had passed on in an early age and Claire was under her brother's care for a long while. Claire too, hardly knew of Leon's past. All she knows was that he was the only child in the family and his parents are the type to travel out of the country and stay there for three months before moving to another country. Travel, and also the fact that Leon hates getting out of America is the reason why they hardly see each other.

"Excuse me." Claire headed to the toilet whilst Chris was waiting for his change.

"Toilet? Yeah me too." Jill got out of the chair and tailed Claire.

As they entered the toilet, Jill stared at Claire. "What?" Claire asked.

"Look, I know Leon has been your old friend and he's staying with you for two weeks, so obviously you'd be talking to him loads back in your apartment and stuff therefore you don't really have much to say to him whilst you're here with him, but for God's sake, I'm not blind. What's up with you two? Did he do something?" Jill asked, being a little concerned at the end.

"No, no. Nothing like that. I don't know what you're talking about." Claire lied, washing her hands as per her original intention of getting into the toilet in the first place.

"Nothing like what?" Jill ignored the last part of her sentence. Claire sighed.

"It's a long story. We had a little argument before you came, I'm sorry we acted like preschoolers; really, we're more civilized than that. I promise." Claire turned it into a joke.

"Not a lover's tiff or anything right? You know you can tell me." Jill said. Claire raised an eyebrow.

"No, no. We're friends. He's sleeping in the guest room. We're not doing anything. We just had a small argument, stop making it a mountain!" Claire rambled on.

"Just making sure. If you don't feel comfortable having him over at your place and it's too late for him to stay in a hotel now, you can always get him to stay at our place. You have our key. The guest room has everything in it. He maybe an old friend, but if you feel threatened or anything, you can always let him stay at ours', okay?" Jill reassured her.

"Yeah, of course. Don't worry about it Jill. I'll take care of it. We're fine." Claire said, thanking her for her very generous offer.

They walked back out into the shop and found Chris and Leon waiting for the ladies by the door. The ladies promptly made their way there. Chris and Jill hugged them both goodbye before zooming off in their car.

Claire and Leon made their way out of the shop. Claire thought about what Jill said and decided that Leon wasn't posing as a threat in anyway. She also hated the fact that after the whole argument with Leon, he was right. She was feeling cold today. She subtly tried to warm herself but rubbing her arms, without him noticing much.

Leon glanced at her as she was warming herself. She wasn't as subtle as she thought she was after all. She caught his glance, and expected him to say "I told you so." He didn't. He just walked. Closer to her. He matched his pace with hers once again and walked right next to her. So close, their arms were touching. Swiftly, he took of his jacket and draped it over Claire.

Expecting her to throw it off to the ground, he waited for her reaction. Surprisingly, she put her arms through the armholes and wrapped herself in his jacket, accepting him. She also nudged in closer to Leon's side. He was tired of fighting over something so petty, and so was she. She decided that it was indeed over with him.

Leon looked down at her and smiled. He said nothing and slipped one arm around her, snuggling her nicely by his side, gun and all. She looked at him, contentedly. She gave him a smile, which to him was the most radiant thing he's ever seen. Her being happy, makes him happy.

"I'm sorry." She said as her arm draped casually around his waist, careful not to fumble with his gun, which was concealed under his shirt.

"Me too." He said, returning the kiss on the cheek she had given him in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Thank you SO much for your reviews and thank you for subscribing me. I'm really sorry this took a little longer than I expected. _

_This chapter is just a filler, to get keep continuity in the story and to explore a little on Leon's side. (I don't want to reveal much but something is going to happen in the next chapter, STAY TUNED ;)) Love you all!_

_xxx_

Claire's alarm clock beeped to inform her it was 7am and it was time for her to get up for work. Reluctantly, she peeled herself from the bed and shuffled to the toilet.

After lunch yesterday, Claire finished off her work at home. After 3 cycles of flipping through the channels, Leon decided to take a cab to the city. He told Claire he was going to the ball parks to see if there was any impromptu little league games happening. He came back half past seven and bought some Chinese takeout for their dinner.

Seeing how it was going to be a long day ahead, Claire bade goodnight to Leon and retired to bed at 10 whilst Leon hung out on the sofa watching a comedy till 11.

She quickly got dressed and got out to the kitchen to find breakfast. She scooped herself some cereal and poured in milk. It wasn't as elaborate as what Leon had prepared earlier but it was better than beer and ice cream at 7.30am. She had to be there by 8. Usually she'd take her motorbike to work. No matter how proper people think she has become, her love for fast things never change. Today the weather was nice and she had a meeting to attend, so she decided to tone it down and ride the bus. Riding a motorbike in an A-Line skirt wouldn't really solve any problems.

Leon's bedroom door was slightly ajar. He once told Claire that he preferred it that way so that he could immediately tell if something was wrong around the household. A practice he had carried out since the first day back from Racoon City. From the kitchen, Claire could see Leon's blonde mop of hair, as he curled up to the right side of the bed, peacefully asleep without a care in the world. It was times like these when Claire really wished neither of them ever met. They wouldn't have met if the outbreak didn't start. If the outbreak didn't happen at all, this is how Leon would look like every waking hour of every single day; peaceful, at ease and just calm. So what if there might be a gun under that pillow? At least he's at peace.

Claire walked picked up her keys and headed towards the door after depositing her empty cereal bowl into the dishwasher. The dishwasher's door might have been a tad too loud since Claire could no longer hear Leon's heavy breathing. She looked over her shoulder to see if she might have woken up the very light sleeper.

Before he could open his eyes and pull out the gun on her, Claire spoke, "Leon, it's just me, don't get up."

From the slight opening of the door, she could spot that his eyes were shut but he was smiling. Probably snickering on how one can possibly be asleep, yet hearing what she was saying. Claire exited and left for work.

Leon got up shortly after Claire did. He poked through her pantry and found that she had some good stuff. A packet of uncooked pasta, some spaghetti sauce... though he could never imagine her cooking. She was one who likes to just order out or get someone else cook for her. Perhaps she cooked for one of her "Friday night companions" Leon thought, immediately shutting the cabinet.

He made himself a decent breakfast from the groceries he had bought a day earlier. After finishing his breakfast, he started really looking around the apartment. He wasn't snooping about or anything, he was just curious about this lady he knew so much but at the same time knew so little of.

Her apartment was something one would call homely. It had cushions in the right spots, tables appropriately placed, a few country-side scenery paintings on the walls, bright lamps near reading spots, a proper bookshelf with thumbed through- dog, eared books. Unlike his, they are either stuffed in his bedside drawer or unwrapped. Little air fresheners hung at right spots... It felt and looked lived in.

The only thing lacking from the decoration was the lack of photos. There weren't any family photos or personal photographs in the living room or the sitting area where the shoe racks were. Claire had actually hung pictures of herbs and spices in the kitchen, but no family pictures. Not even photos of Chris or Jill. He walked to the bookshelf and scanned her choice in literature. It looked a little disorganised because the books were arranged not by size, but by genre.

Her books mainly consisted of a mix of journals collected from the past, diary entries of the prisoner in Rockfort Island. Leon can't fathom how she could live with artifacts like that looming in her home. He gave his up to the government the moment he got home and refused to have anything to do with them. Apart from the old materials, she had books on bio weaponry, parasites, biological mutations and genocides. She also had an array of books on herbs, medicines, cures and vaccines. They were probably reading materials from Terra Save. Some old thumbed through war themed classics and one hit wonders. A bookshelf can really tell a lot about a person. On the bottom row were random old comics varying from wonder woman to batman. Leon picked up the oldest looking batman comic and saw a big "Chris" written on the front page across batman's chest in a childish squiggle.

He laid it back down and was about to turn away when he found a little book squashed between the seats of her reading nook next to the bookshelf. He picked it up and smiled. It was an old edition of "Phantom of the Opera", perhaps one of the greatest romance classic novel there ever is. He carefully placed it back into the wedge and decided it was enough exploring for one day.

Leon took his set of spare keys Claire had lent him and headed out to the local gun shop. Map in hand he ventured out into the busy streets of Chicago. As he walked on the sidewalk, his phone rang.

"Hunnigan?" He said, sounding puzzled after reading the caller ID.

She usually contacts him via the transmitter.

"Yes, Leon. I just wanted to remind you that I have your appointment scheduled at noon sharp. Please don't be late." Hunnigan spoke.

"Yeah, thanks for the heads up... Hunnigan, did you drop your transmitter into the cup of coffee you didn't buy because you're too busy behind the screen all the time?" He mocked, whilst flipping the map sideways, searching for the nearest gun shop.

"You laugh, Leon. I'm not the one who forgot to bring my transmitter out of the house. I got worried that I actually tracked down the exact locations of it just to find it resting safely in yesterday's jeans. Remember, Leon you're not merely on a holiday, you cannot afford to leave things like that alone unguarded. It should always be kept with you." Hunnigan gave him the third degree.

"Hey, I'm sorry. If you want to, I'll go get it. If you are tracking my phone, or whatever else you've implanted a chip on, you can tell that I'm a few meters away from the apartment." Leon said, annoyed at the lack of privacy he gets.

That's one of the worst things about being an agent for the government. You never get your privacy. In ways, being able to be tracked down at any minute at any given time would be a good thing; however sometimes it's just a little too suffocating for Leon.

Hunnigan told him it was unnecessary but warned him not to repeat it and bade him goodbye.

Leon looked about and admired Chicago for what it was. Personally he thought it was very similar to D.C but at the same time, worlds apart. At a glance, he couldn't tell apart both states, but upon further scrutiny he could pick out every single difference between D.C and Chicago. The people, the unfamiliar faces, and the names of restaurants on the sidewalk... the smallest things make the biggest difference when compiled together.

He found "Chuck's gun shop and firing range" not too far from where he was. As he entered, the smell of oil and grease punched him in the face. A smell he was very familiar of.

"Oh, hello there. You know what I like? I always fancied myself a nice semi-auto killer 7 magnum with a customised trigger and engraved head. See anything in particular that you like?" The burly mid-50, unshaven shopkeeper said to Leon.

Leon instantly knew he came to the right shop. Leon was carrying a small Killer7 that fit the man's description in his holster which was hidden under his jacket. For a person to identify a weapon that effortlessly within seconds of giving Leon a once over (and take note on the fact that it was partially covered under Leon's jacket) means that person really knows their stuff.

"No, not really. Just browsing. "Leon mumbled, though he was thoroughly impressed by how observant the shopkeeper was.

"So, you're not from here." He burly man said after a pause.

"How would you know that?" Leon asked, picking up a Beretta, weighing it in his palms and putting it down again.

"Son, no one ever comes here "browsing". They always know what they want in old Chuck's. See, we usually do custom jobs. Sure, if you walked in looking for any of the basic guns we sell em'. However we specialise in custom do. So, no one really browses around here. Apart from the custom jobs, we don't really gun many new guns in stock." The man said with a hefty laugh, picking on the frayed ends of his lumberjack throw over.

"Oh, I know what I want alright. I want a gun." Leon said, picking up yet another unusual looking gun and handling it with care, taking in the feel of the gun.

"Ha, son. You're funny, I like you. Come down here more often and use the target practise. I bet my bow guns, a man with a gun like that doesn't just know how to carry it around." He said, pointing his pudgy fingers at Leon's gun.

"I'm here for two weeks, I guess I could use a little target practise..." Leon said to the owner.

"Name's Chuck. Please, swing by anytime you like. Why don't you get something that reminds you of Chicago whilst you're here? A calf leather holster with a Chicago flag carved on it? Why not custom made bullets with the word Chicago on it? Or better yet, a customised gun?" The man said, whilst giving him a business card.

"Sorry, I'm Leon. I'll definitely drop by more often. I'm keeping my eye out on this beautiful customised desert eagle." Leon said, putting back the gun.

"Looks like a very petite gun for a man like you, but it's just a personal opinion, really." Chuck expressed.

"Yeah, it wasn't for me. I thought it would be a nice parting gift for a friend." Leon said, scratching the back of his neck.

"She must be someone important, isn't she? It's a helluva gun!" Chuck crackled as he spoke.

"She let me put up at her place, it's the least I can buy her, aye Chuck." He said, avoiding the question.

"I'm surprised a girl would let you put up at her place when you're lugging customised guns in your holster and God knows what else in your suitcase..." Chuck said whilst wiping the cabinets around him. It was a slow day, hardly any customers came in.

"Oh, trust me. She might own more guns than I do... It's just an assumption, really. She tells me she keeps her gun safe in a cupboard, but knowing her, she might have a dozen hidden around the house." Leon mocked.

Chuck laughed. "She sounds like a keeper, son. Don't let her get away. Oh, and don't sit on the wrong chair!" He snorted at his own joke.

"NO! No, she's just a friend... Nothing like that." Leon assured the shopkeeper and perhaps, himself too.

"Alright, alright. I can tell when a man is ruffled up. You have a good day now, Leon. I'll keep this gun aside for you whilst you think it through. See you around, sonny." Chuck said.

Leon headed out from the shop and continued his journey through Chicago town.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: Thanks for sticking around for 7 whole chapters! Once again, thank you everyone for subscribing and putting this story on your "favourite list" Love you loads!  
_

* * *

The weather got a little cloudy, temperature dropping just ever so slightly. Leaves held mercifully on trees as the strong wind swept past. It certainly didn't seem like noon since the sun was barely shining through the thick clouds.

Usually on weekdays, her lunch break lasts two hours due to the fact that her position in the company requires her to do quite a number of luncheons with other companies. She usually doesn't abuse her privileges unless she really has a luncheon to attend, or she has to go for her psychiatry appointment like now.

Her day had just started and she already wished she was home. Her boss came in early and gave her the third degree for not informing anyone about her leave yesterday. Then, in the later morning, the files she had to send to other people weren't able to attach onto her email.

She quickly got a bite from the local deli nearby and headed off to the office blocks not too far from where she was. She took her time walking to the office blocks because she was a little early and also because she absolutely loathes the place.

She never liked walking into the doctor's office. It reminds her of how she isn't completely in control of herself, the feeling of helplessness. It's been years since the outbreak happened, but there isn't a day that goes by when she doesn't get bothered by it. The day she feels that she doesn't need to carry a gun around her house would be the day she will be convinced that she's really okay. She doubts that she'll see that day soon, though.

"I'm here for my appointment with Dr. Wilkenson." Claire said, to the lady at the front desk.

"Dr. Wilkenson? At 1pm?" The lady asked, sounding puzzled. She flipped through an appointment book after looking through the schedule in the computer.

"Yes, I rescheduled my appointment with Dr. Wilkenson from yesterday afternoon to today at 1pm. I called in yesterday morning." Claire justified herself, sounding a little impatient.

"I'm sorry; I can't find your name on the list, Ms. Redfield. Someone else seems to have booked over your slot at 1pm. Why don't you take a seat in the waiting room on your left whilst I get this sorted out?"

"You have to be joking!" Claire grunted under her breath. Her wish to get out of the place as soon as possible was obviously not heard.

She walked into the empty waiting room, which looked like a rainbow had just vomited all over the room. Bright pink walls with yellow furniture, she felt like she was in a nursery; but nurseries were supposed to make people feel safe and at home. That's the last thing she was feeling at that point. She found a seat right next to a potted plant where she wasn't easily spotted. She hated coming here and she hated for anyone to know that she comes here. It makes her look and sound like she's a weak person who can't handle her own demons.

Picking up a random crumpled magazine that was dated about two years back, she sat back and tried to calm herself down. She flipped through the glossy magazine just to look at the models with their fake smiles, happy on the outside but probably wretched on the inside. The more anxious she is about waiting in this room, the harder it is for her to sit through her therapy. The room itself made her feel like someone was watching her, reminding her of her days in Racoon City and in Harvardville.

The further she pushed her thoughts about Racoon City out of her mind, the worse it was. Sitting there, she could see dead bloody flesh hanging from cold bodies, eyes gleaming of nothing but death. She could almost smell the fear. Smell the burning flesh around her, the smell of death and the moans of the undead. It was almost unbearable. She covered her eyes, had her head tucked into her elbows and her shaky hands clasped around her head, as though she was trying to keep her head from rolling off.

Then, she smelt a faint smell of the past. This time, this smell wasn't triggering any fears. She felt puzzled because she knew that the scent was a scent she had smelt in Racoon City, but why wasn't sure why she wasn't feeling the anxiety. She breathed in and her hands stopped shaking. Her mind struggled to remember what scent resembled; it failed to place even a single note.

She tried to clear her head, quite convinced she was going insane. Visions of Racoon City had disappeared but that faint scent lingered onto reality. Taking another deep breath, she got herself out of her arm brace. Then it struck her. That scent. That smell, and the sense of security along associated with it.

_Leon. _

She looked up; her brown eyes met a familiar pair of blue eyes, covered slightly by a hanging gold tuft of hair.

There he stood, in the corner of the nauseating room, looking down at her, with empathetic eyes. She immediately wondered why he had stalked her. To her surprise, he took a seat beside her without a word, reassuring her that he too, was a waiting patient. Deep down, he is just as troubled.

Her shock was immediately suppressed with feelings of sadness. Leon wasn't the type to flinch at every little thing. He wasn't one who would admit he's hurt even if he broke a rib. For him to be willing to succumb into therapy would mean that he is really affected by it. Even a man like Leon wasn't immune to the mental destruction he was up against due to the outbreak.

All these time, he had told her he was okay, all these time he reassured her that he was far superior to the outbreak and its aftermath, all the time he had asked her if she was okay, those times were lies. They both need help and they knew it. They were just too scared to admit it. Too angry to admit that Umbrella might not have turned them into a zombie, but Umbrella had been able to successfully haunt them with unbearable memories every chance it gets.

Without looking at each other, they remained seated as they rationalised the situation. Claire wondered how she missed the signs. Thinking back, Leon was very good at keeping his appointment a secret. The only tell tale sign would be when Dr. Wilkenson recognised Leon's name upon hearing Claire saying it on the phone.

Without a word, Leon uncharacteristically moved closer to Claire, took her hand into his, placed it onto his lap and laid his head comfortably on her shoulders. Silently telling her that he too was in the same boat as her and he will always be there for her. Sometimes, even the toughest of nails tend to rust.

Claire closed her eyes, and said, "I'm sorry." Speaking words Umbrella should have said instead.

A woman walked into the room and greeted the only two people in it. Claire and Leon scooted apart as they listened to what the lady had to say. The lady ignored the fact that they had just been in an embrace and carried on her speech.

"Ms. Redfield? I'm sorry we seem to have had a miscommunication. There is a booking under your name for tomorrow at 1pm. Mr. Kennedy here has made an appointment for today at 1pm much earlier than you have, I'm really sorry for this mistake." The lady said, glancing at her clipboard.

In normal circumstances, Claire would have insisted upon keeping her date, and bring up how tight her working schedule and how it is nearly impossible to mess it up.

"It's alright, keep my booking for tomorrow, I'll come back then." Claire said, getting up knowing that he probably needed it more than she does.


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: Sorry this took so long. This chapter is a rather brief chapter on the exploration of their relationship, nothing big happens here, only perhaps, some mindless flirting and a little bit of information that fills up the gaps. OH, ONCE AGAIN, thank you SO much to all the reviewers and subscribers. This is such a motivation for me.**_

It was nearly 9pm when Claire got home. Leon had already eaten and was lying on the couch. He was watching some random rerun of last season's football game. To him, no matter how old the football game was, it was still a football game.

Leon heard Claire open the front door. "Get your feet off the table, Kennedy." Claire reminded him in a singsong manner as she entered the apartment. Leon promptly swung his legs to the ground, forgetting how much she hated lower body limbs on the table.

"Got caught up at work?" Leon called out to her from the TV area, lowering the volume.

"Yeah, I got us some dessert to apologize for missing dinner with you, I'm sorry. I know I told you I'd spend my evenings taking you out and about but I really couldn't avoid this one." Claire said as she took out the cartons of ice creams she had bought.

"Don't worry about it, Claire. I'm good. I think I'm starting to like exploring Chicago." Leon mentioned as Claire went into her room for a quick shower and changed into her pyjamas.

It has been two days since the incident in the physiatrist. Neither of them spoke a word of it after that, and resumed their lives as per normal.

"After you called in to tell me to find my own dinner, I got a call from Chris." Leon said to Claire as she emerged from her room, hair wet and twisted into a bun fastened safely on her head.

Claire grabbed two spoons and the ice cream tubs and sat them onto the coffee table, whilst fixating her eyes at him.

"What did he want? And how did he get your number?" She asked.

She wasn't worried since she knew if it was important, Chris would have called her, and also, Leon would have called her immediately after getting the call.

"I hadn't changed my number since that last I met him, years back. He just told me that you kept his apartment keys in the bottom drawer of the guestroom, in case I ever feel suffocated living with you." Leon snickered.

Claire rolled her eyes. Typical Chris. He doesn't believe that there could be anyone capable of living with Claire for more than two days.

"I'm glad he's given you an alternative. But honestly though, his apartment is really nice. It's a little further from where we are now, but if you ever need space don't worry about me being here." Claire mentioned, whilst digging herself a spoonful of vanilla ice cream from the carton.

"Don't be ridiculous." Leon replied in disbelief, whilst picking up the other ice cream carton.

"By the way, I wasn't too sure of a flavour that you'd like... I just figured that you were a chocolate kinda guy."

"I don't really have a particular favourite flavour, but chocolate's good. Thank you, sweetie." He said making space for her on the couch.

She sat down at the other end of the couch and had her eyes fixed on the screen. After a good few minutes of watching the game, Claire said,

"So, tell me more about yourself, I don't really know much about you, or your family, really."

Leon put down the ice cream carton and looked at her, "well, what do you want to know?"

"Anything. Family, favourite food, favourite game" Claire said, looking at him.

Leon sat up straight, picked up his ice cream again and said, "Well Claire Redfield, two can play at that game."

She squinted at him, "Okay, 21 questions. I'll start first because I say so. Tell me about your family."

Leon broke into a grin and winked. "That's not a question. Forfeit. My turn." He said, dipping his spoon into Claire's vanilla ice cream.

"This is so unfair." Claire said under her breath.

"You really don't need 21 questions to know about me. I'm a boring person, and besides you already know the basics. 21 questions will garner 3 generations' worth of information from the Kennedy side. I'm telling you, we're a boring lot. Anyway, my first question to you. What is your family like?"

"NO FAIR. That was an exact replica of what I had asked you earlier!" Claire said, this time crossing her legs and pretended to look shocked.

"You need to learn how to form your sentences properly. Now answer it or it's my turn again." Leon threatened.

"Why don't we make this a little more exciting?" Claire said.

Leon grinned, "Amuse me, Redfield."

"Let's do it this way. Before you answer any questions, you must take a shot. The rules will be bent this time, as I will allow us to skip any question we think is too personal or just plain stupid. Sounds easy right? HOWEVER, every time you skip a question, you must take two shots. For example, it's my turn to ask you a question. You think it's too personal so you say 'skip'. I will allow that but as punishment; you'd have to take two shots. After taking two shots, it's STILL my turn. I'll ask you another question, and if you're still unwilling to answer it, you earn yourself another two shots. This will go on until you finally decide to answer a question. Then you may have your turn. Sounds good?" Claire explained.

Leon nodded humbly.

"You ready?" She asked, going to the cabinet to find a few shot glasses and her tequila bottle.

"Honey, I was born ready." Leon winked at her.

Claire laid out the glasses. "Let's start from the beginning. My turn. What is your family like?"

"That's not fair! That was my question to you!" Leon gasped.

"I did say start from the beginning. So are you going to answer it or not?" Claire remarked, pouring him a shot.

Leon accepted it and downed the first shot. "I lived with my parents in Washington, D.C after moving there when I was five. Father worked in the corporate world, being a business man in a company. Ma is a housewife. Both are now travelling the world. I have an elder brother but we hardly talk since he is in the Marine Corps."

Claire gave him an approving nod. "What's your brother's name?"

"Sorry, it's my turn." Leon said, pouring her a shot.

"What do you like about your family?" Leon asked.

"My family was a close-knit one before my parents died. I liked the unity between us." Claire said, simply after downing her shot.

He frowned, shook his head and poured another shot and handed it to her. She raised an eyebrow.

"I already took my shot."

"Was it me or is Chris's hair a lot longer than that answer? If you give me another half hearted answer, you're downing three. "Leon warned.

Claire pressed her lips into a tight line and downed the shot. Leon gave the most charming smile he could conjure up to balance her scowl.

"How old were you when you had your first girlfriend?"

Leon downed a shot. "15. She dumped me in a week for being too, "silent and uncaring."" He chuckled.

"When did you have your first kiss and with who?" Leon challenged, picking up the pace.

Claire downed another and said, "17. He was a year older than me, named Marco. He was the foreign exchange student. Broke it off when he went back to Italy a month later. Good kisser." She winked.

Leon laughed, "Seriously. You fell for the foreign boy?"

"He was nice, so shush you. It's your turn." She felt a little lightheaded but she kept on anyway not wanting to give up.

"When was the last time you cried?" Claire asked.

Leon thought about it, bit his lower lip and poured himself two shots. "Sorry sweets. I'm having way too much fun now for that story."

Claire laughed and pushed him another shot for the next question. Leon shook his head and laughed.

She let her hair down and smiled "Alright, you're not going to answer that question, so now answer this one. Where, to whom and how old did you lose your virginity?"

"If I die tonight, at least I have the pleasure to say that I died in your care, Claire." He took the shot and shared a laugh, completely oblivious to the fact that Claire just asked him three questions that was clubbed into one. Not that he cared, not that anyone cared.

Indeed it was going to be a long night, and no one was keeping count.


	9. Chapter 9

The beach was scorching hot. Claire picked the hem of her dress and ran towards where the waves crashed. "Look at this!" Claire yelled and threw a flat pebble into the sea, which skidded a good few meters before it sunk.

"You think you're so strong, flinging a rock into the sea." Leon smirked looking at Claire, whilst throwing a Frisbee towards Jill.

Chris walked towards where Claire was and engaged into a pebble tossing match. Their father used to bring them to the nearby lake where they'd skip pebbles.

"You'll never be able to get as far as that!" Chris exclaimed as he used his hand as a visor to examine the distance.

"I bet a Benjamin I can." Claire said, challenging the older Redfield.

"You're on, sis." Chris said, nodding his head up cockily.

She bent down to choose the flattest pebble there was. Just as she was aiming to throw, she got knocked down onto the wet sand, sending the pebble astray. Her arms were failing to grab onto something before toppling over the sand, red hair astray.

"I win!" Chris yelled, and ran back towards where Jill was.

Claire looked up, only to find Leon as the culprit that had knocked her down.

"Who's the strong one now?" Leon mocked. She playfully kicked him off her.

He laughed, rolled off her and laid down beside her. She was angry at him at first. Leon looked at her annoyed face and poked her nose. She laughed, and soon after, he too joined her laughter. They laid where the waves would just touch them every few seconds, being drenched to the core. It was so wrong, yet it felt so right.

As Claire closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift, she felt the monotonous motion of the wave merging into a stronger beat. The waves which were at first calm sounds had slowly turned to hard pounding sounds, and each time it pounded, it got louder.

She reluctantly gained consciousness of her surroundings just to realise something wasn't right. What she was lying on was definitely not the sea shore, or her bed for that matter. The pounding was coming from her head; she was suffering a major hangover. Although she knew she dreamt of lying on the beach knew that lying next to a man wasn't neccesarily a dream.

She felt around, unwilling to open her eyes knowing that the pounding could only get worse. She realised she was lying on the TV area couch fully clothes, on top of someone who was also fully clothes. She fluttered her eyes open only to realise where she was. Her head was comfortably tucked under the crook of a man's neck, and had her arm lying outstretched across his chest, with the other resting on his head, softly clutching his hair. He was lying flat on the couch with one arm affectionately slung across her, and the other placed comfortably on her hip. Their legs were intertwined and closely cuddling.

Panic filled her thoughts as she slowly came to terms with what she was seeing.

"Leon, LEON. You have to get up now." Claire said untangling herself, but unable to get out of Leon's strong hold.

Leon's eyes opened wide and saw her trying to get out of his arms that were around her. By the looks of his face, he too was puzzled about the sleeping arrangement.

He immediately let go of her and sat up straight, whilst she scuttled into the other end of the couch, clutching her temples that were throbbing away.

Leon shook his head in both disbelief and confusion. It was definitely a weird morning. And, it must have been a weirder night.

Claire stopped to think for a while and brushed her hair back to get a clear thought. Immediately her face grew tense, as she cursed softly, to herself. "What happened last night? Err, did we...?" Claire embarrassingly asked him.

"NO! No. As far as I can remember, we didn't even kiss." Leon said, putting his palms over his eyes to recover some memory from last night, but obviously having a better tolerance for alcohol than Claire as he remembered some vital parts. Claire let out a sigh of relief, but it was laced with utter confusion and suspicion.

Claire had some flashbacks of the night before. She remembered answering the 20th question, after skipping many questions and going to the kitchen to get another bottle. She didn't remember the game ending or how they decided upon the sleeping arrangement.

"All I remember was that after you took the new bottle from the cabinet, we played another good five or so rounds, I guess we must have lost count of the questions. That's all I can remember, but I'm very sure we didn't do anything."

She nodded slowly and held her head together trying to stop the pounding. Yawning, she checked her watch. Immediately her eyes bulged.

"I should have been at work half an hour ago. And I have a meeting in about twenty minutes. Of all days to be late..." Claire said, getting up from the couch, nearly tripping over due to the hangover and the whole confusion.

"Easy," Leon said, catching her. She mumbled something incoherent, balanced herself and rushed into her room. Leon too, entered his room to freshen up and tried to recover what happened last night that got them to sleep in such a manner.

Just as Claire got into the shower, she could hear her phone ring from the coffee table outside. She cursed out loud for the luck she was in. It was either her boss or her secretary telling her she's late.

Leon heard her phone ring from the outside. He dodged back out to check her phone. It stopped, and then rang again. Leon picked it up, knowing it was important.

"Hello?" Leon said to the receiver. "Um, I'm guessing this is Chris Redfield?" The lady said on the other end of the line.

"No, I'm sorry I'm not. Claire's a little busy right now, can I take a message?" Leon asked, voice still warming up from the sleep.

"Yes, tell her to get here as soon as possible since she has a meeting to attend in fifteen minutes and it's VERY important." The lady said.

"I will, and don't worry she'll be there." Leon said, and bade goodbye.

He could feel his head hammering him every step he took. Hangover was never a pretty sight. He mustered his strength to make coffee for both of them and toasted two bagels. He too was going to head out.

"Claire, your breakfast's on the table. Work called; they want you there, now. "Leon yelled so that Claire could hear from inside her room. Claire yelled a thank you and continued drying herself from the toilet. Shortly after, Leon headed into his room to freshen up.

Claire emerged out of the room, in another high waisted, A-Line skirt and a white blouse with a line of ruffles that started at the collar and ended where the shirt was tucked into the skirt. She took her phone to see a few missed calls from her secretary. Just 10 minutes to get to work. She grabbed the bagel and downed the coffee, which she felt a little better after drinking it.

Leon got out of his room, buttoning his shirt. "You're heading out too?" Claire asked him, whilst strapping on her only pair of heels.

"Yeah, I was supposed to meet the owner of Chuck's gun shop to do some target practise in five minutes... and I'm seeing Dr. Wilkenson later in the day." Leon announced.

Claire nodded, trying to get out as fast as possible. Leon tailed. He was dressed in his usual meticulous way, in a white sleeved and collared shirt with black pants. He was carrying a case, probably his arsenal of weapons.

She headed downstairs to hail for a cab whilst Leon made his way to the gun shop. "Don't be ridiculous, get in the cab Leon. I'll drop you off." She said as the cab pulled up.

"No, you're already late for work." Leon said, fighting his urges to sit down as he still had a hangover, but a lot less than Claire.

She put on her sunglasses to hide her bloodshot eyes and sucked up her gag reflexes. "Just get in, it's on the way." She said simply.

She told the cab their destinations and silently fixed her hair and clothes. Leon closed his eyes, trying to shake the headache away, which was getting better after having some medication.

As the cab pulled up towards the gun shop, Claire said, "I've got you covered on cab fare today. Um, when I get back today, we need to talk. "

"Thanks for the cab. Yeah, we really need to talk about this morning. Try to get back early today. Have a good day." Leon spoke.

Xxx

At work, Claire fumbled through her office and made it into the board room right on time. Thankfully her presentation was already up thanks to her secretary. All she had to do was pretend she didn't feel like the whole world is spinning whilst presenting it.

Directors of many companies were present during the meeting, to view what Terra Save had to offer and perhaps invest in it. Claire knew it was a very important meeting for her and her team so she had to try her best to suck it up and make it work. Dropping some ointments into her eyes, she walked into the board room with a false sense of confidence due to her state. She felt like a travesty of herself.

She managed to get through the meeting without any major catastrophes apart from the fact that she was more dazed than usual. Something the potential investors wouldn't have noticed, but her co-workers would have.

"Claire, you okay?" Michael, her co-worker asked her, as they walked out of the board room.

The potential investors seemed very keen on Terra Save but they were still inconclusive of Terra Save's potential to achieve in the coming years. Usually, when Terra Save had meetings with potential investors, they'd tell them their decision on the spot. Today it was slightly different as they wanted to have another meeting in a week's time. Claire couldn't fathom whether having another meeting was a good or bad thing. At the moment she didn't really want to think about it.

"I'm fine. Thanks. "She said, resisting the urge to massage her temples. The throbbing started again as the medication wore off slowly.

"You seemed very dazed back there, are you sure you don't want to see a doctor? I'm sorry but I thought you could have shown a little more charisma back there, Claire. That really wasn't your best performance." Michael said, slightly ticked off.

"You could have helped adding a little "charisma" to it, Mike." Claire snapped back, really not wanting to hear anymore remarks at that moment.

Both Michael and Claire entered their boss's office to discuss about the meeting and how to lock onto them the next time they came for the meeting.

"Ms. Redfield, I'd like to see you alone." Ms. Rowlington, her boss spoke as both Michael and Claire walked in. Michael went out promptly, leaving Claire behind.

"Claire, you know how important this meeting is to us. What were you doing back there? You are our best speaker, and to hear you fumble over keywords and leaving Michael to answer questions about your department on top of his own questions... that's just not acceptable. To ALMOST miss your meeting, and coming in an hour late, now that's just sloppy." Her boss said, in a string of words.

"I'm sorry. I'll rectify the issues and have a stronger self presence in the next meeting." Claire said, in a semi-automated voice.

"I'm warning you, Claire. I do not want you to be half dazed in any other meeting, especially not in meetings that can make or break us. If your reasons for being late, rather incoherent and out of it today have to do with your personal life, I don't want to hear it, it is not my business. However, I just want you to know that if your personal life jeopardizes our company, I will make your personal life my business." Ms. Rowlington said.

Claire was in a position where she really couldn't say much, especially when she's in the wrong. She knows it and she will not argue with it.

Claire promptly apologized for her actions and left Ms. Rowlington's office.

She ducked into the toilet on her way back to the cubicle to try to stop her head from spinning.

"What happened, Claire?" Lisa, her good friend who works at the Human Resources department asked her. She too, was in the toilet.

Claire looked around the toilet to make sure no one was in it before she spoke.

"Between you and me, I had too much last night, woke up with a major hangover. And this meeting was just really badly timed, especially after a night like that." Claire mumbled as she fumbled around her bag for some medications.

"No, no, the meeting wasn't badly timed; your drinking session was badly timed. So, you going to tell me what sort of night it was? A little bird told me someone NOT your brother picked up your phone this morning." Lisa said, leaning against the wash basin.

Claire looked up from her bag, and stared at her for a moment. Before she could ask what on earth Lisa was talking about, she remembered that Leon had picked up her phone when she was in the toilet. Lisa must have called in.

"It was nothing, really. I bumped into an old friend; he was staying in Bristol which is far from the city. I told him he could bunk with me since he could explore the city better that way with minimal transportation issues... he just happened to pick up my phone." Claire explained.

"Somehow I believe that your friend has to be in your room to pick up your phone, whilst you're knocked out cold from your night." Lisa said, winking.

"No, nothing like that. I was awake when you called; was in the shower." Claire said, humbly.

"Claire, you're one of my best friends. I think I can tell when you're not telling me everything. What happened last night? If this is you during a hangover, you'd just be sluggish. Now, it just looks like you have loads on your mind. Spill it or I'll use biological weapons against you to get it out from you."

"Oh yeah? What sort of biological weapons are you talking about?" Claire challenged.

"Thiopentone sodium?" Lisa laughed.

"Seriously? The Truth Drug? Is that even legal in America, much less Chicago?" Claire asked.

"Honey, is Terra Save, even if it's illegal they'd find a way to legalize it claim that it's for research purposes. Now stop changing the subject." Lisa said, getting impatient.

"Leon and I knew each other a long time back-." Claire begun but got cut short by Lisa.

"Leon Kennedy? The one who survived Racoon City with... you?" Lisa seeked confirmation.

Claire nodded. "So we go way back. I bumped into him on the streets, told him he could stay at mine. Anyway, last night I wanted to get everything across better and start filling blanks we've accumulated over the years of no contact between each other."

Claire swallowed her migraine relief tablet before continuing.

"So, we played 21 questions, with a twist. Basically we got really drunk and the purpose of the game was defeated since I could only remember his answer up till question 3." She paused deciding whether to continue or keep things a little private.

"Go on!" Lisa beckoned in impatience.

"So the next thing I could remember is waking up from a really messed up dream..." She sighed. It wasn't very easy for her to say this. She always thought of herself that would never let herself get to that stage. She never got that drunk with anyone before.

"...and I find myself asleep in his arms. I know I need to talk to him about it because this really shouldn't have happened and it was really unprofessional on either side. Rest assured we didn't do anything last night, but the idea of waking up in his arms is just, not the brightest thing to do with an old friend." Claire confessed.

Lisa looked at her and said, "Girl, why do you have to keep him on a personal level? You're friends. I sleep next to Artie occasionally during breaks in the break room because he takes up most of the only couch there. But we're just co-workers that's all. For you, you don't even work with him. Even more of a reason to break down the professional barrier. He's an old friend, Claire. Not your boss. It's fine to wake up in your old friend's arms. It only means you trust them a lot. Don't blame it on being drunk, because when you're drunk you only do things you always wanted to do but never had the guts too. You wouldn't do something that you've never thought about when you're sober. Like doing chores. I never aspired to do the when I'm sober and I've never found myself doing chores when I'm drunk..."

Claire shrugged, "I'm just going to talk to him tonight about this. He too, mentioned that he wanted to speak about this in the morning. I don't know what to say to him because I don't think I like him in the way we looked like we did this morning. "

"You're honestly making a mountain out of a molehill. I'd tell you not to bring it up, but since it's your life..." Lisa said, stepping away from the wash basin.

"I don't know. I just feel like it's needed. So that neither of us get the wrong signals about what happened. He's leaving in a little over a week, I don't want any awkwardness during the remainder of his stay." Claire clarified.

"What makes you so sure that talking about it will solve everything and not make things more awkward?" Lisa asked her whilst pushing the exit door.

"I know it won't be." Claire simply said, with a falter in her voice.

Both of them left the toilet and resumed work as normal. Claire called it a day at 5 and cabbed back home.

"Leon?" She said, upon entering the apartment. No response. He's probably out.

She shut the door and immediately went to shower. She took back what she said in the toilet with her good friend since she couldn't seem to find it in her to start talking about serious things after her long, hard day at work. All she felt like doing was putting on a comedy which involves no thinking whatsoever and sleep.

She found her old DVDs of the third season of "Friends" and decided to kill time and relax whilst waiting for Leon to get home. As she lay down on her sofa, she felt her eyes weighing down ever so slightly by the minute. Within five minutes, she was fast asleep on the couch.

She opened her eyes to see that she was greeted by darkness.

"Shit, not again!" She cursed, feeling her surroundings. Unlike the last time she found herself alone with an afghan still slung over the back of the couch. She checked her watch, and it read 12.45am. No point in having any sort of discussion with Leon now.

She got up and pulled herself into her bedroom, knowing that it would be a lot more comfortable in there than it would be sleeping on the couch. As she got up and turned towards her room, she realised that Leon's door was still ajar and everything seemed as how it was before.

Claire pondered for a minute whether to give him a call or to let him enjoy himself in the happening Chicago nightlife. She shook her head and decided that Leon deserved going out and not getting naggy calls by another woman.

She picked up her phone and went into her room. As she laid her phone on the dresser, she saw that the little envelope sign was flashing on her phone. She flipped it open to see who had sent her a message.

13 new messages, 67 missed calls.

She glanced at it again to make sure she wasn't mistaken and she immediately scrolled down to the list of names who she had missed their calls.

51 missed calls from Chris Redfield, 15 calls from an unknown number and 1 call from Leon Kennedy.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger. I thought the last chapter was getting too long with too many things going on at the same time, so I had to split it up. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing and favouriting! A big HELLO to the new subscribers and a warm welcome back to the lovely existing ones :) It's been too long! _

Claire immediately called Leon as he was the first on the missed call list. It was engaged. She felt the panic slowly creeping up her and tightening her throat. Maybe he had spent the night at Chris's after what happened yesterday night. She read the messages. They all contained similar messages.

"Claire, this is Hunnigan, if you've seen Leon or he's with you please let me know."

"Pick up your phone, this is important. Call me back when you get this."-Chris

She called Chris hoping that Leon was safe. She could feel the tiredness vanish and was instantly replaced with worry.

"Chris what's going on?" She spoke as the other person picked up after the first ring. Please God, let Leon be safe.

"God damnit Claire, where have you been? Listen, all I can say is that Leon is missing. Hunnigan isn't able to track him down via his GPS and all his phone signals are severed. Is he with you?" Chris spoke.

Claire felt her head. "No, he isn't with me. The last time I saw him, he got out of a cab he shared with me at Chuck's firing range. I got a missed call from him though at 10pm" she said, regrettably.

Claire paused for a millisecond. What if he had stayed at Chris's apartment because of the events of the night before?

"Chris, have you tried calling your apartment? He could be there." Claire admitted. She didn't know how else she could cover this up.

"Why on earth would he be at my apartment? Did you two fight?" Chris asked after directing Jill off the phone to call their apartment.

"No, we just found ourselves in an awkward situation yesterday. I think he might be there to get his thoughts straight." Claire said. She didn't want Chris think there was any problems between Leon and her because he jumps into conclusions so quickly. But she guess, its better that he knew a little, and was able to figure out where Leon is, as compared to hiding the fact and not being able to find Leon.

"Claire," Chris said, clearly frustrated. "I know it's not my business, but at the moment Hunnigan is frantic, she doesn't want to tell her higher ups just yet because she doesn't know what the hell is going on."

"We didn't fight; we were just caught in an awkward situation, that's all. The next morning, I got up, I told him I had to go for a meeting, which I did, and was already late. Despite his hangover state, he still went on to the shooting range saying that he made an appointment with the owner and wanted to get some practise. So we shared a cab, I dropped him off and that's the last time I ever saw him. I didn't ask him to elaborate on his exact itinerary. Oh, and he said he was going to Dr. Wilkenson's after that." Claire said.

"I didn't know he too, went to Dr. Wilkenson for help." Chris mumbled. He continued, "Did he say anything about staying at my place?"

"No, in fact he told me he wanted to speak to me after work. I expected him to be home." Claire said, running to Leon's room to find Chris's spare key. It was still lying in the bottom drawer.

"Chris, your key is still here. He isn't at your apartment. That's it I'm heading out to look for him." Claire mentioned.

She was the type of girl who couldn't sit still and just be helpless. She needed to do something. She knows that she cares for Leon but being overly emotional over him wasn't really her thing.

"No, you're staying put. Hunnigan is doing all she can on her end to look for Leon, your search for Leon will only jeopardize your safety. Leon's working for the Government. If he is indeed in trouble, which I pray he isn't, the men out to get him have connections. You don't want to risk your life. All we can do now is help Hunnigan. So, tell me was he carrying anything valuable when he left the place, anything worth stealing?" Chris asked.

Claire took a deep breath cleared her mind just a little so that she could think rationally about what was going on.

"He was carrying a suitcase; I guessed that his guns were in it because he was going for target practise." Claire said, pacing the room.

"Hunnigan, do you copy that?" Chris asked. Apparently they managed to hook up the call three-way whilst Claire was distracted.

"Loud and clear. Claire, listen. I want you to go into his room, find any sort of documents that might give us a lead on where he is. Chances are, he might not even be involved in anything that has to do with being a Government agent, but we have to eliminate all causes. Can you do that? I'll be on the line as you search." Hunnigan assured Claire.

Claire scuttled into Leon's room and went through the most obvious places. She hated the idea of invading his privacy but she has to separate her personal feelings with professional ones.

She found various bullet magazines, clothes, travel documents which seemed very vague, probably due to his working status. Neither the time nor date of the return or arrival slots were filled in on the tickets, they were just printed with the acronym "n/a".

"I can't find anything out of the ordinary." Claire spoke on her phone.

"Keep checking. We've got some people knocking on Chuck's gun shop now to check if it might be open at this time of the night." Hunnigan confirmed.

In the background, Claire could hear Jill telling Chris that she still can't locate Leon. Claire felt suffocated by the minute.

She searched franticly around Leon's room to uncover anything. Half an hour went by without any luck and all every piece of Leon's belonging was thoroughly checked. She finally sat down and heaved a sigh. She can't go on with such haywire thoughts.

"Chris."Claire spoke out, whilst sprawled on the floor, helpless.

"Did you find anything?" Chris asked, fumbling back to the speakerphone.

"No." She said, feeling her throat tightening up even more by the second.

Chris could sense Claire's anxiety. "It's going to be okay, Claire. It's okay if you can't find anything. Hunnigan is doing her best to track down everything she can. Hang in there. Whatever you do, don't get out of the apartment. He could be just hanging out in the bar across the street, and his GPS might have run out of battery." He said.

Claire went to her study to see if he had left anything there. Surprisingly, she found a black file on top of her terra safe documents.

She opened it and checked it out to make sure it was Leon's. Glancing at the signature scribbled on the bottom of the pages, she knew instantly it was.

"Guys... I think I found something." Claire mentioned.

"What is it, Claire?" Hunnigan asked.

"It's a... dossier. A complete profile background... on Sherry." Claire said, whilst examining the documents in the black file.

"It contains everything about Sherry Birkin. From her date of birth to who's care she was under last. I thought she was under the Government's care, why does she have specific caretakers?" Claire asked.

"The Government approved a few foster homes so that those under the Government care can live in them." Hunnigan clarified.

"So Sherry isn't completely safe. " Claire said, disgusted at the Government's lack of responsibility.

"The Government noticed that she had not changed or mutated after her 13th birthday and deemed her fit to live in a foster care, approved by the Government." Hunnigan said.

Claire slid the papers back into the file and realised something was amidst. The file was on top of her Terra Save work which she had laid out meticulously the night before. He definitely wanted them to find it.

Claire immediately told Chris and Hunnigan the new information. "Maybe someone was looking for Sherry and knew Leon had full access to Sherry's files."

"I'm going to try to track down anyone possibly linked to Umbrella in Chicago. They're the only ones I think of who would be interested in Sherry Birkin, given her condition." Hunnigan said.

Claire took the file and rechecked everything in it, again. After all, that's all she could do. Pictures of Sherry were in it, with her growth chart, each recording signed by various government members, Sherry's weekly growth recordings were mostly signed by Leon when she was 11, as Claire identified his famous squiggle. She remembered him telling her how he had taken Sherry under his care for a while when Claire had gone to find Chris.

The black file also contained a section where Claire was mentioned in it, alongside with her involvement with Sherry. Not much was written about Claire, as compared to the entire file which was about Sherry. However, whatever information they had on Claire was spot on. The file wasn't kidding when it stated it was Government Property.

"Maybe we can track down Sherry. She could lead us to Leon. Claire, whose care was Sherry under last?" Chris asked.

"The last two foster cares she was placed in were in Milwaukee and... Chicago. I'm texting you the exact addresses and phone numbers now." Claire said, switching the phone to speaker so that she can text them the details.

"I've got the texts. I've sent our men to the following addresses. Claire, stay put and don't go anywhere. We've got this taken care of. In fact, you can go to bed whilst we get this sorted out. Just make sure your phone isn't on silent." Hunnigan said.

"It's late, Claire. Go to bed. We've got this." Chris tried to rationalise with her.

"Yeah, sure." Claire said half- heartedly, and hung up.

As much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew she wasn't going to get any sleep until she knows Leon is safe.

_**a/n: Will update the next chapter a lot quicker than this one, I promise! **_


	11. Chapter 11

An hour had passed since Claire got the phone call from Chris, and there was no sign of Leon or a call to tell her he's okay.

Claire was sitting in her study surfing the net, looking for anything that might lead her to Leon. Unfortunately every article that had to do with Racoon City or the Birkins' had not been updated for years since the outbreak.

Chris told her that Hunnigan's men walked into several bars and couldn't find Leon in any of them. On top of that, none of the bartenders saw Leon in the bar.

Then a thought came to her. She knows this city a lot better than anyone on the team. She should be able to think like the city and perhaps get a lead on where Leon was. She knew the bar owners would clam up and not tell Hunnigan's boys anything if they marched into the bar in their uniforms. Claire took things in her own hands. It's not like she doesn't trust Hunnigan's team or doubting that they can carry out the task, but she knows that Chicagoans do not trust the feds.

She took the Sherry files and stuffed it into a sling bag. It was much too valuable for it to be left alone on the table. She took her phone knowing what she doing was completely disagreed upon Chris, Jill and Hunnigan.

She went to her bedside table to find some bullets for her gun. The drawer seemed to have been stuck. She pulled the handle of the drawer harder and it finally gave way. Jammed in it, was a plain blue box. Definitely not Claire's. She took it out and opened it.

In it was a Desert Eagle, with a magazine. She took the gun out and was surprised. It definitely was not hers but the carving on the hilt said otherwise. Underneath the gun was a small white paper, torn from an old notepad. She picked up the torn paper and examined it, "Charming." She said under her breath.

She unfolded it and read it in a rush, hoping there's a lead to where Leon might be.

"Dear Claire,

This is for you. Thanks for being so accommodating to me. My stay here has been pleasant and I couldn't ask for a better person to spend my vacation with. I wish I don't have to say goodbye to now but I do. Goodbye, Claire. I will never contact you again and I will never see you again. Please incinerate all my belongings and leave no trace of my presence behind. By now, Hunnigan is probably already looking for me but tell her that I don't want to be found and that I am safe.

I'm sorry for dropping by so suddenly; I promise you'll never have to be bothered by me again.

-Leon."

Claire shook her head. Did he left because of what happened the night before? Is that what he's sorry for? Claire trembled, knowing if that's the case; it would be hard to explain to Chris.

However, upon further inspection, Claire noticed something that wasn't quite right with the letter. Albeit the mysterious message, she knows that Leon wouldn't just leave everything behind and go. She re-read the letter again and picked up some fine details about it. Something about the writing and how rushed it looked bothered Claire.

Claire took out the documents from her sling bag to compare handwritings. There were notes written by Leon in the Sherry files which she could use to check the authenticity of the letter.

The letter starts out well, with the same slopes on the "a's" and the messy tails on the "y's and g's" however in the sentence after Goodbye Claire, Claire noticed a slight change in the wordings. She was no handwriting analysis, but she knew what she read couldn't be entirely true.

Separating the seriousness of the situation aside, Claire felt sad and betrayed to read this letter from him, she felt like she deserved a proper goodbye at least. His efforts in keeping in contact with her were obviously lies.

She picked up the phone, almost unwilling to call Chris to tell him about the gun and letter. She just cannot fathom how Leon could just leave her. It was so unlike Leon.

She told Chris what she had found.

Suddenly, a thought came to her, "Chris, just hold on the line,"

She went into Leon's room once again and went through his belongings. She found the plane ticket that she had seen earlier.

"Guys, he didn't willingly leave Chicago. He might have left his clothes behind for whatever reason, but for him to give up a ticket which didn't have a time or date stamp, would be stupid. He wouldn't buy another ticket when he already has one here. If he had time to leave me a note and a gun, he would have time to pick up his ticket."

Hunnigan and Chris agreed to her theory to a certain extent, but Chris told her he needed to see it anyway. "Scan the sheet over using this email account, it's untraceable." Chris said, spelling out an email address.

A thought occurred to her before she could shove the piece of paper under the scanner, "Sorry Chris, the scanner isn't working." She lied.

"That's just fantastic." Chris huffed under his breath.

"Couldn't she just take a photo of it?" Jill yelled in the background.

"No, to analyze something like this, we need the document to be clear." Hunnigan said.

"Could you get some plain clothes up to the apartment?" Chris asked Hunnigan.

"Wait! If they come up here to take the sheet, they may be seen. I think it's best for me to go out and give it to them since I know how to avoid the areas with surveillance and I know my way around without being spied on." Claire said, clearly, having a scheme thought out in her head.

Chris hated the idea but went on with it anyway as it seemed like a more logical thing to do.

Chris told her to wait for them at the alley directly behind her block, and once she handed out the paper, she should head back into the room, making sure she isn't watched.

Claire agreed and grabbed her coat ready to leave. She also grabbed the Sherry file and the Desert Eagle, knowing that she might need it.

She headed out to the alley using an unfamiliar way, which no one ever used.

The cold surrounded her as she pushed the emergency door open to lead to the alleyway. She saw two burly men standing across the door.

"My, the night's really starry tonight." She said, glancing at their eyes, making full eye contact.

"Perhaps, but not as starry as Vincent Van Gogh." Said one of the men.

Claire gave a slight head tilt, as they said the code word and handed them the handwritten note. She went back into the building, and waited for a good 5 minutes before heading out into the public again. She knows that the guys at the pub would talk to her more honestly than if the cops came in their uniform.

Pulling up her jacket's lapels, she made her way out of the apartment area and towards the bar located opposite her apartment, against Chris', Hunnigan's and Jill's wishes.

She walked cautiously towards the bar, making sure no one around her is watching.

"Hello lovely. You look like a strawberry martini." A bartender spoke as Claire walked up to the bar. He poured her a glass and smiled.

"No, I'm sorry." She frowned at the bartender which she did not recognize.

"Well then. Accept my apology, on the house." He grinned and added a little umbrella into the glass.

"Have you seen this man?" She asked, pushing away the drink and taking out a picture of Leon from Sherry's reference files.

"I don't know; should I know who this is?" The bartender asked her.

Claire closed her eyes and sighed, "Listen, Jackson." She read his nametag. "You must be new, Is Jeff in today?" She asked.

Jackson looked back and called for Jeff. Jeff came out from the backroom and greeted Claire, before he could say hi; he turned to Jackson and said, "You did not offer Claire a strawberry martini, did you?"

Jackson nodded slowly, trying to understand what's going on.

"I'm terribly sorry, Claire. Jackson's new. What would it be then? A Hoegaarden perhaps?" Jeff asked.

Jackson raised his eyebrow at Claire's preferred choice of beverage.

"No, Jeff I got to hurry, have you seen this guy?" She asked him. Jeff took the photo and scrutinized it for a moment.

"What's up with this guy? Some feds came up here earlier and asked me the same question about this guy." Jeff said, referring to Hunnigan's team.

"Well, did you see him?" Claire asked him.

Jeff sighed, "No, I've not... I don't know Claire..." he said, trailing off and was about to walk back into the backroom when Claire called out his name.

"Jeff! Jeff... I've been here for years. You know me, I know you. Please, I'm begging you. Have you seen him?" She asked him.

Jeff took another glance at Leon's photo and nudged his head towards the backroom.

He bolted the backroom as Claire entered it.

"Yeah, I've seen this guy. Twice. I saw him two days ago, having a stiff vodka soda. I knew he wasn't from around here, I asked him what he's doing here. He says he's here to see a friend, and was on his way to Chuck's. He said he liked collecting guns, and if I'm not mistaken he said his name was Scott."

Claire nodded. "When did you next see him?"

"A few hours ago, in fact. Scott told me he just came back from Chuck's... picked up a gift, apparently. He looked a little dishevelled from when I last saw him so I asked him what's up. He was about to tell me what's up when this guy in a white shirt came up to him and whispered something to him. I offered the guy a drink, he refused and Scott went off with him, clearly unhappy." Jeff said.

"Buddy, do me a favour and describe this guy for me, and in a timely manner, please?" Claire asked, ready to take down notes mentally. She knew it's only a matter of time before the experts realises that she isn't home, like where she was told to stay at.

"Tall, about 6 foot maybe, blonde and had a scar around his eye, I think. He had really blue eyes, almost fake really. Could be contacts, but I remember really, really blue eyes." Jeff confessed.

"Why didn't you tell this to the cops earlier?" Claire asked.

"They sort of asked Jackson. Jackson didn't see it happening because he was off duty at that time. When they asked me about it, I really didn't know what to say, Claire. It's the cops, this is the bar. I don't like seeing them in the bar, y'know? It's just not right, and I might get in trouble for something I didn't do all due to the fact that I run a bar. We're not exactly a Church, Claire." Jeff said, sighing.

Before Claire could respond, her phone rang. It was Hunnigan. She pondered whether she should answer it... and decided if the call was worth risking her life.

She picked it up, "Hi." She said.

"Claire Redfield, I don't want to hear it, I don't even want to know what you're thinking, just get the hell back into your apartment before I personally evacuate the bar with the excuse of it being under the terrorist hit list, because at the moment, it might be." Hunnigan fumed over the line.

"Wait; listen to me-"Claire started.

"Get back in there, now! These guys are dangerous Claire; they will kill you once they find out where you are."

"Hunnigan, wait-"

"Whatever you need to tell me can wait. If you tell me in the apartment, Leon's life is at stake. If you tell me now, both your life and Leon's at stake. Now please tell me you locked your door on the way out." Hunnigan dictated, clearly very, very disappointed at her.

"I did, and I'm heading back now." Claire conformed, and hung up. She said goodbye to Jeff and used the back way out of the bar and snuck back into her apartment.

Just as she entered the apartment, she dialled Hunnigan's number to tell her that she's safely in her apartment and no one had entered it, and also to tell her the news she had uncovered from the bar.

Just as she hit call, she received an incoming call. She put Hunnigan on hold to answer the unknown call.

"Hello?" Claire spoke.

At first she heard heavy breathing. Then she heard a faint sound coming from the other end, whispering in agony.

"Sweetheart, you run. Take the file and run south."


	12. Chapter 12

"Sweetheart, you run. Take the file and run south."

Claire's eyes widen in anxiety.

"Leon? Leon where are you. South of where? Is it Wesker? Who's coming after me? Are you okay?" Claire blurted out a string of questions.

"You have to-"Claire heard a loud bang and then the line went dead.

She quickly switched to Hunnigan, who was put on hold.

"Hunnigan, Leon was on the line a second ago." Claire said, in a rush.

"What? Where is he? What did he say?" Hunnigan asked.

"He said to take the file and head south. Listen, Hunnigan whilst I was at the bar, I spoke to the manager, Jeff. We've been friends for a long time and he confided that he had indeed seen Leon, who was known under his middle name. He was last seen an hour before we came. Leon was in the bar, drinking when an unknown tall, blonde man with a scar on his eye came and took him outside." Claire told Hunnigan.

"Wesker." Hunnigan said and sighed. "South of where, did he mention?" Hunnigan asked.

"I couldn't ask anymore he was on the line for exactly three seconds before I heard a loud bang and then the line was cut off." Claire said. She too, gave the unknown number to Hunnigan .

"I'll see what I can do with the number." Hunnigan said.

"Do you think Leon's down south? How much time do we have to fly back to Chicago, Chris?" Jill asked in the background.

"Two hours to get to Chicago." Hunnigan confirmed.

"I'll contact some people for the first ride back." Chris said, handing the phone to Jill so that he can make arrangements for them to help Leon and Claire.

"Can I give you my honest opinion? I think Leon isn't down south. I've known him for years, and I know how he thinks. He's probably up north. He doesn't want anything to hurt you, Claire. He wants you not to get involved in this and wants you far away from him or trouble." Hunnigan said.

"I'll send some men down south to look out for things but I doubt we can since Leon wasn't very specific when he said south. However, Claire I will send someone down to your apartment in 3 minutes and whilst they're on their way, I'll track down the number you just got me, maybe we'll find out where he is."

Claire anxiously looked out the window for any signs of a vehicle parked below. In exactly three minutes, a black Hummer pulled up and Claire dashed down.

Claire's cell rang again, "Claire, I have good and bad news. Good news is that I managed to find out in which vicinity Leon is in, the bad news is that the call was far too short to be traced. Our system here doesn't work like the Police Department. Ours can trace call just by the SIM card. Our basic system which traces calls to its exact coordinates would need a call at least 30 seconds. With three seconds, we could only get a partial area code. He is indeed up north. However, we can try to trace his call to the pin point coordinates with our new machine. It had just arrived a day ago and no one is able to use it without getting it sanctioned by the higher ups. I'm sure they have no qualms in using it to safe Leon's life, but I'm sure they won't be happy with what Leon had done and his job maybe at stake." Hunnigan explained.

"I think his life is a lot more valuable than his job right now, "Claire said as she exited her apartment again to get into the Hummer.

As she entered, a man inside swung open the door, "I'm Tyrone Abbott." He said and drove the car off. His muscular build and broad shoulders nearly took up half the passenger seat's space.

"I just spoke to my higher ups about Mr. Kennedy's disappearance. Not happy would be an understatement of how they feel now but I do have access to this new machine. He's in a warehouse next to Burger Buddy up north. Then again, we can't be sure he's where the call was from." Tyrone told Claire.

"Who else is on this job now that the Government knows about Leon's disappearance? I'm guessing you're also an agent" Claire asked, knowing that they need as much help as they could possibly get.

"I am. A few others are also circling around southern Illinois just to be safe. We also have some backups on standby." Tyrone said, swerving the car to the next intersection.

"What exactly are the documents that Mr. Kennedy left you?"

"Leon left me Sherry's documents. Everything from when she was born to where she is currently residing in. Something Umbrella would want- badly." Claire said.

Tyrone nodded. Claire kept a poker face throughout the journey. Thinking about how to get about saving Leon, whether he is indeed where he is...

"We're here." Tyrone said, pulling up the backdoor.

"Once we get out, I need you cover me, you do have a gun, don't you? I'll burst in and we'll see how it goes from there. We really don't know what's in there."Tyrone said. Claire agreed on whatever he said, as long as it would save Leon.

Tyrone crouched near the warehouse's metal doors Claire checked the surroundings to make sure no one is actually looking around.

Tyrone whispered, "3, 2, 1"...

Tyrone managed to kick the doors open, spoiling the locks which fell apart after the harsh blow.

It was dark, as dark as midnight in the warehouse.

"I think we got the wrong venue, Redfield." Tyrone said.

She looked around the warehouse, hoping to see any form of life, or any sign of it being occupied at all any time of the night.

Claire's face fell, feeling absolutely crestfallen, letting her emotions falter just a little bit.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Sorry it took SO long for the last chapter, I'd just like to say THANK YOU so much for sticking on to me, and reading my materials even though it's been far too long. This is chapter 13, which I assure you, will be uploaded a lot faster than the last two.

"Tyrone, where would Leon be?" She said, standing in the middle of the dark warehouse, her voice ringing trice in the echo. The moonlight from outside shown in the warehouse, giving it a little light. But not enough to see what was really in the warehouse.

Claire felt like her heart fell to the bottom of her stomach. She was so certain Leon was in here and yet, nothing. She could almost feel it in her that he was in here.

Tyrone took out his flashlight and handed Claire another. Hunnigan had told him that he'll be assisted by Claire; hence he had packed in pairs.

The beams from their flashlights casted a piercing white line through the darkness. The stark contrast blinded people in its way. Claire could see a few boxes, some stacked as tall as herself, some higher. They were all metal container boxes which seems like they're all ready to be shipped out to a port. The warehouse was a big place and the boxes in the warehouse were messily arranged, in a disorganised maze.

"If we can't find Leon, at least find his phone. We know it is in here somewhere. Unless he took it with him. "Tyrone said.

Just as Tyrone ended his sentence, both of them heard a loud kick.

Claire pointed her flashlight towards that direction to check it out. It was coming from the pile of boxes stacked up on the far right side of the room.

Just as she was approaching it, Tyrone yelled, "WATCH OUT, REDFIELD!" as three shots were fired towards here.

In just a second, a series of gunshots were interchanged between Tyrone and the shooter, which was at the entrance of the warehouse. With the lack of lights in the area, it was hard to tell who it was and how that person managed to sneak up upon them.

All three shots fired from the gunman towards Claire had missed her thankfully as she ducked down. With a quick presence of mind, she let out a scream, letting the lady believe she was injured and was down.

Tyrone continued firing shots at the entrance whilst hiding between the boxes. One of the boxes he had shot in the attempt to shoot the assailant had contained a sandy substance which had made quite a mess in the warehouse.

"Who are you?" Tyrone asked as he held his torchlight towards the shooter. He saw a silhouette of a woman aiming a gun at him. It was too far for him to make up her features but it was certainly someone he doesn't know.

"You take one more step towards the boxes and I'll shoot you right in the heart." The lady said.

He knew that if she really wanted to do that she could have but she didn't, hence she wanted something from them.

"What do you want?" Tyrone asked with caution because he can't be a hundred percent sure she has absolutely no intentions on killing them.

Meanwhile whilst Tyrone carried on his questions, Claire was crouching low behind the boxes. She crept low and searched for a box with a breathing pattern. She did the best she could to dim the extremely bright lights from the torchlight to avoid attention to herself. Tyrone as a distraction was actually working well for her. She wrapped the head of the torchlight with her coat so that it only gave out a glow of light, not bright enough to be detected but bright enough for her to look at where she was going.

"I think you already know what I want. Umbrella needs Claire. Since you brought Claire here, I think my job has gotten a tad easier. We thought we had to look for her but since she's here, you've conveniently brought her to us. I might think of hiring you." She said sarcastically.

"Why do you want Claire? She doesn't have anything that you need to run your sick company." Tyrone said, keeping an eye for the woman. She was hidden away in a pile of boxes, keeping herself away from Tyrone's shooting range.

"It's not Claire that we want. She's just bait." The lady said and went silent.

Tyrone looked around him for any sound that might give him a hint on where she is.

"I see you, purely as collateral damage." A man's voice rose suddenly, from right behind him. As the mysterious man spoke his words, the lights in the warehouse came on. It was still rather dim but they could see where they were.

Tyrone tried to turn around, but before he could, the lady had once again reappeared and kicked him squarely in the jaw, setting him back a few places. He man whose voice he had heard earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Tyrone dodged the woman's blows. She seemed to have been well trained. Just as he backed away from her, another person appeared behind him and punched him right in the gut. Tyrone took it and regained composure quick enough.

Tyrone didn't hesitate to start pinning the guy down. He knew that he couldn't possibly fend off both the man and the woman and at some point he would need Claire's help. She just has to hurry.

Tyrone dodged a punch from the man and gave him a right blow. To his horror, the man was standing three feet away from him right after he had hit him. "That's not humanly possible." Tyrone thought to himself.

Seeing the confused face on Tyrone, the man started taking it to his advantage. He picked Tyrone up and tossed him towards the lady like a rag doll. The lady subsequently tried to bind him with rope. Just as the lady was about to drowse him with anaesthetics, Claire fired a round towards her.

Claire knew she had to help Tyrone and she knew by shooting she'd give away her position. While Tyrone was busy fending them off, Claire had found a box which sounded like it had someone breathing in it. She obviously couldn't be sure if it's him because he hadn't responded to her when she quietly told him to kick if he could hear her. Nevertheless, she was in the process of opening the tightly secured metal box when she saw how much trouble Tyrone was in and had to help him. At least she knew which box to come back to now.

"I see someone's still able to shoot." The man said.

As Claire looked up from her spot cautiously, she shook her head. Jeff from the bar was right. He did have a pair of piercing blue eyes. With or without contacts, the man was still undoubtedly Wesker and Claire couldn't forget his face even if she tried. "If you want me, I'm right here. Why are you going after Tyrone, Wesker?" She asked.

Within a second, Wesker was at her side, whilst Tyrone was fighting off the woman.

"Claire, Claire, Claire. You haven't changed a bit." He said, looking at her.

"Let Leon go." She said.

"Isn't it great? When you were in Rockfort didn't you send Leon to come help you? And now the roles are reversed... You're saving Leon. How touching." He said.

"You know what these two have in common, though? You. What do you want, Wesker?" Claire asked again.

"You know, I was going to your apartment to pay you a visit... But I think the stars are aligned today. You came to me instead! I was already on my way to come pick you up. But since you can't wait to find me, here you are!" Wesker said, in a narcissistic way.

"You wish." Claire said. She held her gun at him. She knew he was too fast, but she tried to kill him once, she can do it again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Wesker said.

Claire knew there was only one way of doing things- to shoot the lock that was on Leon's box, hoping it falls out; however, there are two possible outcomes from that.

One- The lock falls off and Leon can come help them out. Or

Two- the bullet ricochets and hits Claire.

And even if she does shoot the lock, she has to be sure she isn't too close because a Desert Eagle is a very strong weapon and it might penetrate through the box if she was too close, shooting Leon instead.

She knew she had to try. She had Wesker right at her, and Tyrone fighting on the other end.

She kept her eyes at Wesker's but made sure she had Leon's box in her peripheral vision.

Wesker inched closer to her to grab the gun from her. Just as he approached her, Claire held her breath and shot the metal lock on Leon's box.

The bullet broke the lock and lodged itself into the metal box. Claire hoped that it didn't graze Leon in anyway. The woman on the other side of the room let out a low cry.

"Did you kill him?" She yelled out. Before Wesker could confirm that Claire had not, Tyrone fired more bullets, distracting them both.

Just as the box came unlocked, Claire glanced at it. It would have been a good time if Leon would get up and help them out. 

Wesker immediately apprehended Claire as she shot the box and held her in a chokehold position. Claire saw this coming and tried her best to free herself. Tyrone fired a few shots towards Wesker but he too was hesitant with his shots because Claire was so close to Wesker, he might just accidentally shoot her.

Tyrone's shots were enough to startle Wesker as he loosened his grip on Claire. Claire saw this opportunity to wrestle her way out and shoot Wesker. She aimed the gun at him and as she was about to point the trigger, however he appeared suddenly in front of her.

Claire was familiar with his superhuman speed and managed to dodge his punch. She then drew her knife from her belt and used it against him.

In the corner of her eye, she noticed that Tyrone managed to get the woman on the ground and was wrestling her out to find his gun.

Wesker punched Claire in the gut as he noticed her attention wavering towards Tyrone. She staggered back and pulled herself together. She felt her abdomen throbbing already but she's been through this before. She knew how it was like.

She charged towards him and shot a few rounds towards him. He swiftly dodged each and every one of them. Claire knew she was running out of bullets and she would have to reload her gun soon and she just didn't have the time for that when she's fighting against Wesker.

Claire tried her best to fend off Wesker with her knife knowing she has to save up her bullets. Even though she was able to fend him off, she knew that he was still able to throw her off with his massive weight and his superhuman speed.

And she was right.

He caught a hold of her and flung her across the room towards the woman. Claire landed with a loud bang and hit her head against a few cardboard boxes.

"Why don't you finish her," Wesker told the woman. "It would be just too cruel for me to kill you, right? After all, we've known each other for too long."

As he finished his sentence, he approached Tyrone, again with his super agile skills. The woman held onto Claire and had the gun on her head.

"I'm tired of you, Claire. Leon would drop everything to save you. He'd give us the file if he knew that you're here, at my gun point. But you know what, smartass? You killed him. And I don't see why I should keep you alive." The woman said.

The woman still genuinely thought that Claire had shot Leon back there.

"Claire, I don't know why you did that. After all that he's done for you. After all that you've both been through, why would you kill him?" the woman asked, gun still aimed at Claire.

The woman had kicked Claire's desert eagle to the ground. Claire felt her head throbbing and bleeding whilst her stomach was past feeling numb from the pain. She knew even if she could kick the woman down, she still wouldn't be able to retrieve her gun and shoot her down without Wesker getting on her case first... Especially not in this situation.

Wesker kicked up Claire's gun and shot Tyrone in the arm. "TYRONE!" Claire exclaimed. The woman held Claire back.

Tyrone fell to the ground but managed to pick himself back up again. He looked at his arm in agony. It will definitely hurt like hell in the morning. For now, he has to keep reminding himself that if he let the pain take over him, he'd receive something far worse than just an injured arm from Wesker.

Just as Tyrone was about to give up, he saw a bright light, and a loud, ringing sound.

Claire threw a flash bang towards Wesker and Tyrone, without thinking. She knew that was the only thing she could do to help Tyrone.

Before the woman behind her could finish her off, a voice rang through the room.

"Ada."

The woman who held Claire was startled and looked up just to find Leon across the room. He had managed to get out of the box but Claire could understand why it took so long.

He was really bruised up. His face was partially swollen and was bleeding. His knuckles were red and sore, one of his sleeves were torn and was used to wrap up a wound on his leg.

Claire's face twisted with surprise when she found out the lady behind her had been Leon's past person of interest. "So this is her..." Claire thought to herself. It figures why she was so concerned about Leon's well being earlier on.

'So now Ada and Wesker's working together? I should have thought.' Claire thought to herself.

"You're alive!" Ada exclaimed, still holding Claire at gunpoint.

"And apparently, so are you. Now do me a favour and let go of her." Leon said, calmly.

"You fell into our trap. Now that I've got Claire you'd do anything to set her free, such as handing over the file." Ada said.

"It's been a while since I've seen you. The last I heard, you were dead." Leon said.

"Don't believe everything you hear." Ada mumbled.

"So why do you believe that I care so much for Claire? What makes you think her life is more important to me than the file?" Leon asked.

"If you want that file, you've got the wrong person to hold at ransom." Leon said. "So why don't you just let her go. Find someone else that is worth taking at ransom because frankly speaking, I don't see how far you'll go with me by putting her on ransom."

"Since she's so disposable, why don't I just of dispose her? Then I can know for sure that you don't care for her."

"How does it matter to you? It's none of your business anyway." Leon said, and glanced at Wesker and Tyrone who's been busy attacking Wesker the best he can. Somehow the flash bang affected Wesker more than it did Tyrone, giving him a slight upper hand.

"Knock it off, Kennedy you and I both know you were hung over me when you found out I was dead." Ada sneered.

Leon let out a sigh. "You got me, Wong."

"So you wouldn't mind at all if I killed her? I mean she means nothing to you, doesn't she?" Ada asked again.

"Well, I DO work for the good guys, Ada. I would care if you killed an innocent being." Leon said.

Ada turned the gun away from Claire's head. Instantaneously, Claire rushed away from her grasp to find her gun.

The moment Claire moved away from her, Ada aimed her gun back at Claire and at the exact same time, Leon drew his gun and aimed it at Ada.

"It's your call, Ada." Leon drawled.

"I knew it. You ALWAYS liked girls you worked with. Claire obviously isn't an exception." Ada said.

Claire had been silent and stayed silent throughout since she knew she was better off quiet than if she were to vouch for Leon.

"Ouch, Ada. That makes you sound kinda cheap doesn't it now? Just a girl that Leon likes. After all, Leon loves everyone he meets." Leon mocked her.

"You know what? I think I've had enough of her. Think about it. When she's gone, it's just you and me." Ada said and was about to pull the trigger on Claire when Leon closed his eyes and hoped to God that He forgives him.

Leon shot Ada. Again. And again. And again.

Upon hearing the gunshots, Wesker turned to find Ada on the ground. Before Wesker could shoot both Leon and Claire, Claire managed to pick up her gun and shoot Wesker. Once.

Wesker fell and Tyrone fired another three rounds to make sure he was dead. Tyrone looked at Wesker's face, pale and dead. He bent down to close his eyes and walked away. That's the most that he had deserved.

From that point, everything seemed slow motion for Leon. Tyrone had come to Claire's aid as she was limping from the injuries Wesker had caused her.

Leon walked to Claire. Claire looked at him, giving him a questionable look. Leon gave her a reassuring glance, telling her he's going to be alright. Claire understandably gave him a nod.

Chris and Jill rushed in; they mentioned something about just arriving seconds ago. Chris brought Claire out and Jill assisted Tyrone out. Chris came back in to help Leon out of the warehouse but Leon had things to do. Chris patiently waited by the side until Leon was ready.

Right behind where Claire had been prior to her exit laid Ada's body. He stood over Ada's body, thinking of what he was feeling. He ran though all the feelings to check if that was what he was feeling. And at the end of the whole list, he realised what exactly it was.

Relief.

"Ada, I lied."

He gave her one last look. He never loved her. He never did.

He looked away from Ada and gave Chris a slight nod. Chris came to his side, "You're gonna be okay?" Chris asked obviously not regarding his physical health. Leon looked at Chris, "Why wouldn't I be?" Leon turned his back to the lady he once knew and never saw her again.


	14. Chapter 14

**_A/N: Hello all! Just thought it was way too long since I last spoke to all of you. I just want to say thank you so much for reading, reviewing and constantly giving me the confidence to post chapter after chapter. It really means a lot to me. A little shout out to the anonymous reviewers whom I cannot reply personally- thank you so much._**

The situation outside the warehouse was a total chaos. Paramedics running about, cops were taking down reports and rushing in and out of the warehouse. There were paranedics treating Tyrone's right arm, some were helping Leon up the ambulance and others were stopping the blood from Claire's skull.

The paramedics mounted Leon onto the back of the ambulance and told him to wait. Leon sat alone on a bed at the back of the ambulance waiting for the paramedics to escort Claire and Tyrone to the ambulance he was on and send them for immediate treatment.

Leon clutched his ribcage knowing that amongst other injuries, Wesker probably broke one or two of his ribs. He sat there, thinking about what just happened and how close it was. He could have died. Claire could have died. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the bad feeling, but it wouldn't go. He felt guilty.

"Leon!" Leon heard a familiar voice call out from the distance. He squinted and saw Claire with the aid of several paramedics, making their way towards the ambulance of where he was sitting.

It was quite obvious that Claire had gotten quite a beating from the night's events, but the woman Leon saw coming towards him still looked like an angel, a blessing. Just seeing her emerging towards him, alive was enough for him to survive the night.

Leon hung his head low and stood up. "Claire..." He said and hugged her tightly. She was shaking and she held on to Leon's shirt tightly. She didn't need to say anything but he knew what she was thinking, because he was thinking the same thing too. They were both grateful that neither one was dead. "It's over." He reassured her and kissed her forehead. She nodded slowly and sat next to him.

"Claire I..." Leon started, "No, Leon before you say anything you need to take this." Claire said, handing him Sherry's folder that had been slightly out of shape due to the night's event but still, precious all the same.

Leon took the files and told Claire to stay where she was and wait for him in the ambulance.

Leon walked to Chris who was busy talking to the police force that had been called to the scene to remove Ada and Wesker's bodies.

"... And remember, none of this gets out to the public." Chris told the chief of the Police Department. Chris wanted to protect the city, not create more chaos. If the city knew about this incident, they would assume that whatever had happened in Racoon City would happen to Chicago, just my mentioning the involvement of Albert Wesker.

Chris diverted his attention to Leon who had just walked up to him.

"Leon, you shouldn't be walking around. What's wrong?" Chris asked and beckoned him to go to the side, somewhere away from everyone.

"Could you please take this file for me? In a few minutes Hunnigan will call you and she will tell you what to do with the file. But till then, PLEASE keep it safe." Leon said, giving him the file.

"No problem, man." Chris said, taking the file and keeping it in his backpack pocket.

"Thanks, Chris. For everything." Leon said, after walking away.

"Just doing my job." Chris called back.

Leon made his way back to the ambulance again, where Claire was. He climbed up the ambulance and sat right next to Claire.

Someone had given Claire a warm blanket to put over her shoulders whilst waiting for the paramedics to bring them to the hospital. Claire put her arm around Leon to share the blanket with him.

"You know, I could have killed her for you, right? You didn't have to do it." Claire said to close to his ear due to the noise surrounding them.

Leon, who was staring at the distance turned and looked at her.

"It's okay. If I kept asking someone else to kill people in my eye view then I might as well get stripped off my badge. Heck, I think I might have been already." Leon said.

"I mean, she wasn't just anyone, Leon. You loved her. "Claire mentioned.

"I didn't love her, Claire. The only reason why I let her kiss me in Racoon City was because I was young, and I thought if I was going to die today, at least I had a peace of mind of knowing that I've loved someone in my life. It wasn't love at all." He said to Claire. Claire stared at him for a bit to see if he was really telling the truth. After a while, she just gave him an 'oh well' shrug.

"I'm sorry. I should have been more sympathetic. Are you okay?" Leon asked suddenly, realising that he wasn't the only one inflicted in this chaos and if he had to apologize to someone it would have been her.

"It's alright, Leon. It's liberating to know that Wesker's dead and I killed him. I have the first hand knowledge that he's never coming back. But the feeling of killing someone is never a good feeling." Claire admitted, but not willing to reveal the physical injuries that she had suffered throughout the night.

Leon put an arm around her and let her lean on his chest. They were careful on not prodding and poking on spots that were already badly injured. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I had to show up in Chicago and put you through all this. I'm sorry I led them to your home, the place you felt most safe. I know I won't be able to forgive myself for what I've done but I hope one day you will forgive the CIA for doing this to you. I just never want to lose you again." Leon said.

"Firstly, it isn't the CIA's fault; it was your mistake for bringing the file to my home." Claire started.  
Claire looked up at him squarely in the face. His eyes gazed at his shoes, taking the beating.

"But you know what? You trusted me so much that you were able to bring such information into my household. I feel ashamed that I can't put such trust into anyone. I don't need to forgive you, Leon, because you don't need to ask for forgiveness in the first place. You were just caught in this unforeseeable situation. So please, don't blame yourself over something that you cannot control." Claire said.

She looked up at Leon as he looked down on her, lying on his chest.

"You heart has always been in the right place, Leon." She placed her palm onto the left side of his chest.

He took her palm from his chest and laced his finger with hers. He looked down at her and saw a woman, strong willed with a fighter spirit, but he knew she was all that since Racoon City. Whilst his stay here in Chicago, Leon discovered a side of Claire that was foreign to a lot of other people. Her impossible charisma and soft heartedness made her different from all the other fighters out there. Those traits, plus her tough attitude was what made Leon adore her more than he has ever liked anyone else.

He leaned down as Claire leaned closer to his face. Claire paused to let her feelings tell her if this was the right thing to do. Surprisingly, she didn't feel any unfamiliar feelings. It felt natural. She leaned in closer and at the same time he picked her upright and kissed her, slowly. As their lips touch, they both felt something that was indescribable, but was definitely something they felt was right.

Hands intertwined and both in so much pain, they managed to make the worst situation ever to be the best situation that they've been in.

* * *

Claire awoke with a strong attacking her nostrils. The stinging smell made her cough and sneeze at the same time. She didn't like the smell of hospitals, she remembered. She was feeling a lot better than she did the night before. The hammers in her head subsided to mere tambourine shakes. Her stomach gained its feeling from the numbness; however a dark purple circle was forming over where Wesker had hit her. The various cuts and bruises also had been dulled by various medications she had taken in before she had gone to sleep.

She got up from her hospital bed to look around. She was in a room with stark white walls. Nothing like the movies where patients wake up to get well soon cards and chrome- coloured helium balloons floating about. The door was shut and the two chairs that sat beside her bed looked like they were previously sat on but were currently vacant. There was a neat pile of her clothes on the table in the corner of the room. Clothes she probably would incinerate once she's out of the hospital.

She draped a robe over her hospital garment and walked around. She needed to know how Tyrone and Leon were. She was pretty sure that she wasn't supposed to be standing much less, walking about but hey, what they don't know can't hurt them.

She opened her hospital room door and peeped through the glass panel of the room beside her's. Tyrone was in it, sitting upright and packing his gear with one arm in a sling.

She knocked on his door. He looked through the glass panel and beckoned her to come in.

"Hey, Tyrone. How are you doing?" Claire asked, sitting on the chair beside his bed.

"Are you even supposed to be out of your bed?" He replied her question with a question.

"Could say the same to you." She said.

"I'm better today. It's just a gunshot after all. It'll heal in due time. What about you?" He asked.

"Better. They gave me some medication so I should be fine in a few days." She said.

"Off to another mission?" Claire asked, as Tyrone folded his soiled uniform from yesterday into his bag. He was dressed in a new uniform with laced up boots and the works.

He pursed his lips to a thin line, "I can't say," he said. Claire understood what he meant. It's always a secret with these guys.

"It's okay. Anyway I'd just like to say thanks. And sorry if I had caused any trouble when I flash banged you." Claire laughed.

"Hey, no worries. If you hadn't flash banged, I would have been dead. Take care, Claire. I'm about to head out in approximately 10 minutes." He said. The hobbled off his bed and gathered his things.

"Yeah, I understand. It was good knowing you." Claire said and bade goodbye to Tyrone whom she might never see again.

She exited Tyrone's room and peeked into her room. Chris was sitting in the waiting chair, texting on his phone. She walked into her room. It was too bright, she realised. She looked for the light switch but couldn't find any. It must be controlled by a central switch somewhere in the hospital. What a stupid concept, she thought to herself.

"Were you about to tell me that you're gone?" He asked protectively.

"Give me a break." She groaned as she flipped onto her bed.

"Sorry. How are you feeling?" Chris asked, putting down his phone.

"What? Is that Chris I hear, apologizing to me?" Claire laughed.

Chris threw her a smirk.

"I'm better. Where's Jill?" Claire asked.

"Speak of the devil." Chris said, as Jill walked into the room with a cup of coffee.

"For me, I assume?" Chris referred to the coffee. Jill shook her head and drank it.

"Morning, Jill." Claire said.

"Afternoon to you too, Claire. It's half past one. How are you feeling?" She smiled.

Claire shrugged and sat on her bed. "A lot better I guess, but I still feel a more subdued nagging pain. I think I'll sign out in a few hours." Claire mentioned and yawned.

"I was just checking on Leon. He's still fast asleep. He had a little discussion with the Agency before he slept yesterday. And because of this hullaballoo, he will be under tight scrutiny and will be given less operations throughout the year. It will be rationed to 4 short term missions per year." Jill said.

"Poor soul, wonder how he's taking it." Claire muttered.

She knew he was one who would never back out of a mission but to be denied of a mission was another hurdle.

"I'm going to get myself some coffee. Since Jill was only kind enough to bring herself a cup." Chris said, turning to look at Jill who was sipping her coffee. Jill shrugged.

"Get your own, lazy boy." She said.

As Chris left, Jill pulled her chair closer to Claire's bed.

"I saw that." Jill cupped her hands under her chin and rests her head on top of Claire's bed.

"What?" Claire said, lifting her arm away from her eyes that was shielding the blinding tungsten light that shone right above her head.

"You and Leon, kissing." Jill said, her eyes fixed on Claire's face.

Claire turned to look at Jill, expressionless.

"Oh come on, like you've never kissed a guy." She rolled her eyes, trying to downplay the situation. As much as she'd like to say it was Just a Kiss, Claire knew deep down that it wasn't.

"It wasn't just a kiss was it?" Jill said, reading her mind completely. "I didn't tell Chris and I won't tell Chris, I promise." She assured her.

"We're not- wait, are we REALLY having this conversation Jill?" Claire said, facing the ceiling again, and shielding her eyes once again from the glare.

"How on earth did you see us anyway, you weren't even close to where we were. Also, this hospital seriously needs to hire an interior designer who knows where to put lights and where to position beds because if I have to stare into these lights one more time..."

"Claire, calm down. Firstly, you both weren't very discreet about it. The ambulance door was open, if you can remember clearly. Secondly, No, your brother doesn't know. And thirdly, you'll be out of the hospital by noon, so hang in there. No need for premature renovations." Jill said, sitting straight up as she saw Chris's head bobbing from the glass panel of the door.

Chris made his way into the room with a cup of coffee in hand. "I just spoke to the nurse outside, they said the doctor will come around in a few minutes to check on you, and then you can be signed out." Chris said.

"So, aren't you guys supposed to be in New York?" Claire asked, sitting up.

"Hey, don't worry about that. We'll stay here as long as you need us to." Jill mentioned.

"Me? Oh, no it's okay. I mean I'm sure your training is very important, I've got it covered. I mean, I've been in worse." Claire said.

"Well, the next flight would be tomorrow anyway so just let us know if we could be of any assistance. If you'd like one of us to stay over to help you both please don't hesitate to call me or Jill." Chris said, giving the older brother speech to Claire.

The doctor entered the room "Ms. Redfield? Looks like you're all set to leave. I'm sure Nurse Kelly has gone through with you with your medication and it's dosages. The hospital's number is written on the bottles so if there's anything please do not hesitate to call us. You take care now, Claire." Dr. Nunez said.

Claire thanked him. "I'm going to hang here just for a little while." Claire said, staring at Jill the whole time, hoping she'd get the message.

"Right, Chris and I are going to grab our lunch now. Do you want anything?" She asked, clearly getting the message.

"Well you can come with us." Chris said, unbeknown to Claire's intentions.

"No, my head's still spinning; I'm just going to rest here for a little bit. You go ahead. Get me a tuna sandwich or something." She said, urging them to go.

Chris and Jill left promptly.

Claire got to her feet as they left and went to the room beside her's. As usual, the door was slightly ajar.

"Knock knock." Claire said whilst standing outside his door.

"Welcome." Leon said, in fake enthusiasm. His voice still thick with sleep.

Claire entered his room and leaned against the door frame. "Sorry for waking you." She said apologetically.

"You didn't. I woke up literally a minute before you came in." He said ushering her to sit.

"Nah, I won't be long. Feeling better?" She asked.

"Well, they found two broken ribs and my ankle's sprained but I managed to convince them that I'm alright. You? That doesn't look very well." He said, pointing to her head.

"It'll be fine. Anyway just wanted to tell you that I'm leaving after lunch. Should I meet you back at my place or will you be riding with me?" Claire asked.

"Discharged by noon? Charming as I might be, I'm not THAT charming. Dr Rosewood said I'd have to be here at least till the evening." Leon tried to laugh but found it nearly impossible to move his thoracic cavity.

"That's the Leon I know. Alright, I'll catch you when you're back. You have a lot of explaining to do." She said, repeating what her mother would say to her whenever she's in trouble.

"Yes, M'am." Leon said, then turning serious he said, "Hey, Claire if you need your apartment to yourself these few days, just let me know, I'm sure Hunnigan would be able to find me a hotel somewhere." He said.

"Don't be crazy. Besides, I think it'll be better for me to have someone around the pad for the next few days." She admitted and left his room.


	15. Chapter 15

**_A/N SO SORRY FOR THE EXTREMELY LONG DELAY. College just started and it's pretty hectic. Well, this is the penultimate chapter to this fic. I want to give shout outs to all the reviewers, and the readers, thank you so much for subscribing and favouriting as a rookie author, it is a huge motivation and I cannot be any more grateful than this. There's a few anonymous reviewers whom I can't personally thank, so I'd like to do so here, THANK YOU for your kind reviews, I'd love to speak to you sometime, (when you get a hold of an account, of course!) So, hey, to everyone out there, enjoy this penultimate chapter. SIGH. _**

Back in the apartment, Claire laughed at irony of things. She nearly died a few hours ago, and here she was, standing in the doorway of her apartment, as though nothing has changed. No one ever tells you what happens to Pocahontas when she returned home after she was nearly killed by the group of English voyagers and when they left the village after the agreement. No one gives you a medal to congratulate you for not dying.

Life goes on.

Claire pressed the blinking light on her voicemail. A few of them were from her colleagues at work asking her why she hadn't turned up. She decided that she probably deserved the rest of the day off.

So many questions swirled in her head regarding the night's incident but she realised that she only came to more questions whenever she tried answering them.

She looked down at her clothes. She didn't remember having a white tee and matching shorts in her cupboard but that was probably hospital clothes that had been supplied to patients. The thought of having a warm bath was suddenly so inviting. She decided to do just that.

* * *

Claire came out from her bathroom at about 4pm.

"Oh you were in your room all this time? I came back an hour ago and thought your apartment was empty. Feeling any better?" a voice called from the couch. Claire turned and saw a Leon outstretched on her couch with a notepad and a pencil in hand. He had his head turned her and she could see the little Band-Aids on his face.

"Much. What are you drawing?" Claire asked, making her way to Leon who had already changed into a casual button down top and pants.

"You of course," Leon smiled but kept his eyes on his notepad. Claire walked around the couch and caught a glimpse of the picture. It seemed to resemble a cabinet or a cupboard of some sort.

"Wow, how flattering, Kennedy." Claire said sarcastically.

"I have a space in my apartment in Washington DC and it was about the same size as the bookshelf you have here. I've been meaning to sketch a shoe cupboard for that area for a long time but never got around doing it. So now that I've nothing to do and I can estimate the size of the cupboard, I thought it'll be the best time. I mean I've not had a time alone, doing nothing for quite a while." Leon said, closing the notepad and sitting upright. He beckoned her to sit next to him. She sat next to him, anticipating a long explanation.

"If you had known me better, you would know that I hate travelling. I hate getting on planes I hate going on vacations. I'd rather spend my day at home nursing a beer watching a football game." Leon started. Claire took the afghan from the opposite chair and pulled it around herself.

"The only reason I came here was to..." Leon tried to find the words to say. "... To find you." He admitted.

"Bullshit, Leon. Why would you do that, and besides, I changed my address and number there's no way you could have found me anyway." Claire said.

Leon cocked his head, he definitely wasn't expecting her reaction, but he suppose it was better than her getting a restraining order against him.

"Claire Redfield, I work for the Government. You don't give us enough credit. Even if I wanted to know who your grandma's second boyfriend was in high school, I could." Leon smirked and chuckled.

"The night before I got here, I had to update the Sherry file. I had it with me and completely forgot it was in my possession until I had uncovered it in my bag, on the way to the airport, flying here. The only reason why I hesitated staying in your apartment in the first place was because I knew the file was important and it might be unsafe for it to be in your apartment because I suspected someone may come after it."

"Why didn't you drop it off with Hunnigan before you came here?" Claire asked.

"I wanted to, but you have to remember that it was a serious offence to take home a personal file." Leon said.

"Why did you, in the first place, and how were you about to get around that? You'll have to give it back one day." Claire frowned at his immaturity for not wanting to own up.

"Honestly, and I would never lie to you, I can't recall how it got into my bag, I could have subconsciously have put it in my bag, someone could have done it, I don't know. I have to update the file every fortnight, I thought if I went to Chicago with the file, by the time I get back, it would have been just in time for me to update it again, so it would have seemed like I never took it out." He said, frowning at himself.

"What happened last night, Leon?" Claire asked, sympathetically and curiously.

"I went to the gun shop nearby and I wanted to get you a farewell gift, something to thank you for, since you've been such an amazing host to me. I got a nice gun, wrote a note and boxed it up. On the way back, I went to the bar to have a drink, since the game was playing on the bar's telly and I had nothing better to do anyway. Midway, I find Wesker approaching me, asking me to come with him. I was reluctant but then he said he knew where you are and he will kill you right this minute if I didn't. So I did. He made me rewrite the note as though it was a goodbye note so that it'll seem like I never intended to go back. He gave me a minute to get my stuff and leave. I left you the box in your bedside table because I knew that's where you kept your bullets and I wanted you to find it, even though Wesker had intended for you to find it much, much later. Then, I left Sherry's folder on your table because I knew it was safe in your hands." Leon said. He wasn't a man of many words but tonight he was on fire.

"Claire, you don't know how sorry I am. I would have returned it if I knew Wesker was hot on my tail. I wish I could have stopped it, I wish I did everything I could to avoid this." Leon said regrettably.

"Hey, what did I say, trooper? Don't hate yourself for something you didn't start. You weren't the one who tried to kill me, yourself, or Tyrone. It was Wesker and Ada. I think it's best if you were to accept that fact. No one is mad at you." Claire said and took his hand, gripping it as a sign of support.

"That's where you're wrong, sweetie. I just got a call from the Government and they're putting a penalty on me. I'd go into lengthy details on my penalty but to cut to the chase, my work has been scaled down quite considerably." He said with a hint of regret.

"Hey, that may not necessarily be a bad thing, Kennedy. It gives you more time to do other things." Claire consoled.

Leon looked at the bookshelf for a while, as though his thoughts were ink and his mind were a piece of paper, recreating the sketch he had drawn in his notepad.

He looked at Claire, opened his mouth to start telling her about his life as a workaholic but then he thought it may just be too much for him for one day. "Let's not talk about it." He said finally decided to say at the end.

Claire was about to say something comforting when her phone rang. She got up and answered it.

"No, Chris, it's fine. Tell Jill its okay. I've got it, thanks." She said and hung up.

"It's Chris. He was just checking up on us and was wondering if I need him or Jill to come over to help us. Also, he told me that he's given the file to the appropriate personnel." She said.

"Thanks, Claire. I'm leaving tomorrow, so you sure you won't need help? I mean I'm not saying you can't take care of yourself, but I'm just reminding you that you are in fact, hurt." He said, prodding lightly at her temples.

She swatted him away and flung a few takeout menus to him.

"I'm okay. As long as no one prods me in the temple anymore, I will be fine. Would you do the honours of choosing dinner whilst I make a few phone calls?" Claire said, whisking herself into her office and closing the sliding doors, giving Leon a sign that she was in fact doing a business call.

Leon flipped through the menus. Undecidedly, he laid them all out on the table at random, closed his eyes and pointed to one of the pamphlets. He opened his eyes. "Chinese takeout it is." He said to himself as he dials the number at the edge of the red pamphlet.

* * *

Claire made a few phone calls to the office to let them know about her current situation. Her boss, Ms. Rowlington gave her a week off as a compromise. Ms. Rowlington had initially wanted her to take two weeks off to get things together, but Claire wanted to get back as soon as she can. With a yawn, she got out of her little office and went into the kitchen where Leon had already laid out the takeout food on the table.

"That's quick service." Claire commented, taking a seat at the dining table. "Things always get done quickly when I'm around." Leon boasted. Claire threw a fortune cookie at him. Upon hitting his head, it crumbled into pieces.

"I love fortune cookies, why did you have to waste it?" Leon frowned at Claire.

"What does it say?" She asked, ignoring his question.

Leon read the fortune briefly to himself and grinned. Then he looked up and said, "Something cheesy." And crumpled it and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Why did you find me?" Claire asked, out of the blue. There were many of her questions still unanswered.

Leon looked up from his noodle box. "I... I don't know." He said after a long pause. "I never asked myself that. I only knew that I had to find you. But I never knew why." He said.

Claire smiled at him. "I'm sorry for not staying in touch, Leon. I thought this social isolation thing would be a good thing, but it only buried the past. If it keeps piling up, one day it wouldn't be good for me. What happened has happened and I can't do anything about it." Claire said, accepting the fact that Leon was very much part of her life, whether she liked it or not.

"It's alright, Claire. I really want to say that I'm glad I came here but I can't. I'm glad for some parts, at least." Leon gave her a warm smile.

* * *

After dinner Leon retired to his room and so did Claire.

Leon packed his things into his bag and sat on his bed. He closed his eyes and wondered what it was like if he hadn't been alive, if Claire hadn't been alive. He immediately shook his head to get rid of the morbid thoughts. He realised he really couldn't imagine how it would be like if Claire was killed the night before.

He would never forgive Wesker, and most importantly he would never forgive himself.

Just as he was fluffing his pillows and setting his watch's alarm clock, a soft knock was heard from his door. "Come in," Leon called out.

Claire peeped in with her phone in hand and a wine glass in the other. "It's Chris again. He wanted to know if you'd like to stay in his apartment for the night, in case you need your space. I mean I can totally understand if you'd want some time alone to think about what happened and he's leaving for New York soon so you'd have the apartment to yourself..."

Leon looked at her, "No, don't be silly. Tell him that it's okay. I'm fine here." She passed him the phone and waited at the door frame.

"Yeah, hey Chris, thanks for your offer but I think I'm good here. Thanks anyway, have a good flight, bye." Leon said. He put the phone on the bedside table.

Leon looked at her and smirked, "You haven't gone all sophisticated on me, have you Redfield? Look at you with your little crystal wine glass. How many glasses has it been?" Leon huffed.

"Sorry for not offering, you want a glass, Sloppy Joe? And don't worry, this is my first glass, poured it three seconds before I came in here, I am not drunk." Claire asked, letting out a laugh.

"I don't think you should be drunk, if you plan to be tonight. You need to recover, if you haven't noticed. Also, don't bother with me. I'm good." Leon waved his hand as a sign to not bother with him.

"Hey, Leon?" Claire spoke from the door.

"Yeah?" He asked, as he stopped fiddling with his watch and looked at her.

"I just need you to tell me that you won't go missing again."Claire said in completely different small tone. She put the glass down on his dresser and looked everywhere but at Leon. She was finally admitting to the fact that she might have found someone apart from her own brother that meant so much to her, whom she cannot stand losing.

"Hey..." Leon spoke, bewildered by her words.

Leon walked towards her and stood inches away from her face. His piercing blue eyes stared into hers. "Look at me, Claire. I am not going anywhere, okay? Not tonight, at least; and when I do leave tomorrow, I promise I will be in touch with you because I'd never want to lose you, ever again. You got it?" Leon said, planting a kiss on her forehead with that assurance.

She was never the girl who depended on anyone; she couldn't care less about anyone apart from her own brother because she learnt long ago that whoever she cared for would die brutally and prematurely. She didn't want to care about Leon, because she didn't want him to die a premature death. But, she couldn't help it.

Why did Leon mean so much to her? Why is she standing in his room making sure he's still here?

"Why don't you stay here for the night? My words are just words, I can say so many things to you, but how do you know it's real? Just stay here for the night, right next to me, and then you'll know for sure I'm not going anywhere." Leon said, and led her away from the door and to the bed.

"No, that's insane, I'm just crazy. Don't worry about it, I'm not going to bother you, I'm just going to leave." Claire shook her head.

Leon paused and then whispered in her ear, "What if I am the one who needs you here with me tonight so that I have the assurance that you won't leave me?"

Claire stood there, wine in hand, pondering if she should. Then she realised, she's a lot lonelier than she remembered to be. Leon walked back to the bed as she put her wine glass away and made her way to the other side of the bed.

She lay in the bed, facing the ceiling, thinking about the day's event. "Thanks, Leon, for the gun. I'd return it to you but you seem to have my initials carved on the hilt, I don't think I can." Claire said, with a chortle.

"Don't be silly. It's a gift." Leon brushed off her gratitude and retreated back to his quiet, brooding self.

He pulled Claire closer to him and she rested on his chest. She looked up at him as he looked down at her, her wild hair sprawled on his white tee shirt. She gave him a smile and he returned it.

"Goodnight, Leon." She said.

"Goodnight, Claire." He responded. She tilted her head upwards as he leaned down to plant a soft kiss on her lips, a kiss goodnight.

"By the way, I would never think you're crazy." Leon muttered.

"Go to sleep, Leon" Claire laughed and they finally slept in the same manner as they had found themselves in a few days ago, on the couch, but this time, sober and intentional.

* * *

**NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE UP SOON I PROMISE. AND THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL THE BE LAST *sigh***


	16. Chapter 16

_a/n: I am incredibly sorry for the extremely long wait, I just had SO much on my plate, PLUS I rewrote this chapter at least thrice because I didn't like how it was going. I still think it is kindy iffy for a last chapter, BUT I plan to start a continuation (as in, a second story, a follow up to this) soon! I'm so sorry for the delay and thank you SO SO much for all the reviews, views, comments, and feedback, it's an amazing thing, this . I never thought I could upload a story here and I did! Without your encouragement I couldn't have done it. So, thank you. And for that random reviewer whom I cannot peronally thank because you're anon, THANK YOU, you know who you are. And yes, English is my first language, eventhough I'm neither British nor American, (OHMAHGAD?) thanks everyone. it's been great._

Claire woke up after hearing a rattling sound from the kitchen. She glanced at her watch, 8am. "Leon, stop being a hero for once and just come back to bed." Claire muttered looking out the door, seeing Leon's back turned to her in the kitchen. She had slept in Leon's room and the door had been slightly ajar due to Leon's sleeping habits. He heard every word even though she barely whispered them.

Before he could reply, Claire heard a clang coming from the kitchen followed by a Leon cussing out loud. "Manners." Claire huffed, hopping out of bed, and waltzed into the kitchen.

She saw coffee powder strewn across the countertop and a teaspoon face down on the floor. Leon looked really uncomfortable, bending over trying to pick it up. Clearly, yesterday's injuries took a toll on him.

"Hey, hey..." Claire softly spoke, walking towards him. His face mirrored one who was extremely frustrated. He was a government agent and he can't even do simple things such as making coffee on a simple day. Wesker got him bad.

Claire avoided looking at him, knowing he was embarrassed as it is. "Why don't you clean this up, I'll fix coffee for us okay?" Claire said, truly sympathetic. Leon gained his composure and picked up a dish towel whilst Claire scooted to the side to make coffee for them.

As he wiped the countertop, his hands trembled. The after effects weren't friendly. Claire didn't want to ask him if he needed help, she knew it was too much for him to take already. She too felt really sore from the day before but she didn't receive half as much torture as Leon did.

"What time are you leaving today?" Claire asked, laying a mug in front of him. Leon pulled out two bar stools for them both. "Hunnigan booked the 3pm flight for me." Leon said. "And what time are you leaving the apartment?" Claire asked, taking a long sip of her coffee. The day was significantly colder than the day before, and she regretted walking out to the hall without a robe. The weather was being bipolar again.

"A little after 2 I suppose. There isn't much of a rush, I do get check in privileges but it is a commercial flight and I can't go at 3pm on the dot, that's for sure." Leon said voice still monotonous. "Are you cold?" Leon asked, noticing her Goosebumps. "No, I'm worried that zombies will attack us." She joked, knowing it was a bad joke the moment the sentence left her lips. She didn't wait for his laugh before going into her room to grab a robe.

As she returned, she placed her hand on his shoulder lightly. "You know your injuries are going to heal, right? And you'll be as good as new in no time." Leon turned around and looked at her, face trying to look a little less miserable. "I'm sorry I've been really inconsiderate. Good morning; and how are you feeling?" He asked, pulling himself out from his misery.

She sat down next to him again on the bar stool. "Sore, but nothing compared to how you're feeling." Leon drank the last of the coffee and put the mug in the sink. He sat there for a while.

"Well, I'm just going to go pack, since you're up and all..." Leon said, making his way to his room again.

Something was definitely on his mind.

Claire made her way back into her room and did her usual morning routine. She was bummed that Leon was leaving today but there was nothing she could do. Meanwhile, she had other things to worry about, like when she's going to fully recover and the workload that is going to bombard her when she gets back.

Her colleagues had invited her to a restaurant for lunch. She wanted to go but at the same time she didn't want Leon to be left alone. She peeked out her room and found Leon lying on the couch, reading a map.

"Leon?" she called out.

"Yes?" He said, sitting up and looking at her.

"No, don't bother getting up. I just got a call from some of my friends; they want to have lunch with us. You game?" She asked.

He didn't reply. Claire thought he hadn't heard her, as she was about to repeat when he said, "What time is that?"

"12ish, I guess. Have you packed?" She asked.

"Well, yes, but I really don't think it's wise for you to be going out and about when you're still recovering." He said.

"Stop babying me. You're far worse than I am, and you're flying back." She said.

He stopped again, he opened his mouth to say something but then he closed it again and said, "Good point. But, this is work related, this isn't."

"You're putting work in front of your health?" Claire raised an eyebrow.

"It's really no big deal. Hey, this wasn't about me. Stop turning this around." Leon said.

"I will once you tell me if you're coming or not." She said.

"Friends, you say?"

"No, werewolves." Claire rolled her eyes.

"No need to get all sarcastic so early in the morning, Redfield." Leon retorted.

"If you hadn't made a racket this morning, I would have been sarcastic in the afternoon, thank you very much." She yawned. Leon shot her a look.

"Are you scared of my friends or something?" Claire asked, tapping the side of her face.

"Bullshit." Leon whispered. It wasn't that he was scared of meeting her friends. It was more of the questions they'd ask them both about the night before. As if living through it once wasn't enough, but they want an encore in the form of a detailed story.

"If you don't want to I don't want to impose anything. We don't have to go, if you don't want to, Leon." Claire said in all seriousness.

"Well, Claire it's not like I'm trying to be anti-social or anything but I thought maybe it's just a little too fast. I just don't really want to talk about it right now. Besides, it's my last day here. I thought maybe we can have something quiet, alone." Leon confessed.

Claire nodded, "You're right. I didn't think about the questions they'd ask us. It probably might get too much for us."

"Yeah." Leon said, picking up his map and putting it into his backpack.

With every step he took, Claire noticed him flinching ever so slightly. He's in no shape to go back to work, especially not on duty.

"You staring at me, Redfield?" Leon felt her eyes boring into his back.

"no-o sir." She ducked her way out of the room, not wanting to answer any more of his questions.

Immediately after going into her room, her phone rang. At this rate, she probably seemed like she had no friends outside this circle to Leon. It was Chris. "Hey, Chris." She answered.

"You're going to be fine? We can always fly down to help you around. We heard Kennedy's going back to Washington DC today." He said.

"I'll be fine, Chris. I have plenty to do anyway." She said.

"We... might need an account of this. Even though it isn't anything related to BOWs, we still need a witness account on the death of both Wesker and Ada. You think you can do that for us?" Chris asked.

"Me? I'm in no way associated with BSAA or the government. Wouldn't Leon be a better candidate for this?" Claire said, chewing the top of the pen she had found next to her dresser.

"Kennedy has his own report for the Government; I don't want to impose too much especially since you both are still recovering. We might formally get Leon to give him a photocopy of the report he'll send to government later in the week but for now, do you think you can do this for us?" Chris asked.

Claire pondered for a bit. It wasn't that she didn't want to co-operate, but she was afraid of the implications of being associated with the BSAA. No doubt her brother is in it and therefore she would be implicated already, but writing official pieces for BSAA might put her further into the target zone of these Umbrella nut jobs.

"Claire?" Chris asked.

"I'll do it under one condition." She said.

"Name it."

"Somehow or rather promise me I am not jeopardizing my life whilst doing this little report for you." She said. She didn't know what exactly BSAA could do for her since it was quite obvious she was the only witness apart from Leon therefore witness protection wouldn't work. She just needed someone to tell her she was going to be safe, even for a little while.

"Done." Chris said.

"I'll email it to you by the end of the week." Claire said. Chris thanked her and made sure she was okay alone. After 5000 of telling him she's okay, Chris hung up and left her to her own devices.

When Claire walked out, she found Leon bent over the table, reaching for something.

"Chris wants me to write a report on the incident for BSAA. What do you think?" Claire asked for his opinion.

He stood upright again, "well, have you thought about the implications?" he asked, nudging the obvious.

"I have. Chris sort of assured me that he's able to make sure I'll be safe after submitting it, but I'll still be cautious anyhow."

"Knowing your brother, he's going to just bloody subpoena my report or something." Leon joked and rolled his eyes.

"Bingo." Claire said and laughed.

"Stay safe, Claire. We don't know who's behind Umbrella for now, and we don't know what they are capable. Until we find more details, it's best if we stay safe." Leon muttered.

"What did you get from my brother's report from Kijuju?" Claire asked. She could probably just ask Chris herself, but she knew Chris' skills lied in a pen. He wasn't one who was good with expressing himself vocally.

Leon looked at her with disbelief, probably thinking why she couldn't ask Chris herself. "Nothing much, he talked about a new form of mutation, something similar to Spain; the palagas... they were more vigilant and aggressive now. These zombies, as we'd call it, have gotten a tonne smarter from the original report by Jill and Chris, way back in the Spencer estate. I'll have to go through Chris' report again though, just to make sure I'm not missing anything out." Leon said.

Claire nodded, still wondering what Leon was reaching for.

"What are you doing?" Claire asked the most common question. A question she hasn't heard for a while, opposed to the ever so popular, "how are you doing?"

"Your keys, it fell into the gap down here and I can't reach it." He said, pointing to the gap between the table and the wall.

Claire shook her head in disbelief and fished out the keys with her dainty hands, "You grizzly bear, you can kill 200 pound creatures but you can't pick up a key?"

Claire put the keys into his hand. "Keep it," Leon immediately looked at her with a feeling that he couldn't describe. She wouldn't even let Chris have the spare key.

Leon took it and pocketed it with a thank you.

"Hey, Claire, I've been meaning to ask you this for quite a while now." He said.

"Yeah, what is it?" Claire asked, sitting down on the couch. Leon mimicked her moves.

"Since you have a break, and you won't be going back to work for some time, and since my workload has become basically just writing this report until I'm better, why don't you come with me to Washington?" Leon said.

Claire opened her mouth to protest, but Leon continued again.

"Listen, you'll get to see Sherry again. I'm going to see her tomorrow to check up on her. You'll like it, I promise." Leon said, trying to be as charismatic as possible.

"Leon..." Claire started.

"I have an open ended ticket; I can get you another... and these paperwork that you have? Nothing you can't do in my apartment... and I really like your company. I might need a little companionship for a while." He concluded.

"I..." Claire started to think of a reason to decline his offer, but she couldn't think of any.

She probably needs a break from Chicago for a while. And she obviously liked his company as well...

"... Okay. Fine. Let's go to DC." Claire laughed at herself.

Leon smiled "I was going to keep this, I'm giving this to you now." and passed something into her hands.

She looked into her palm and it was a piece of paper crumpled and folded up. It was the fortune from the fortune cookie they had the day before.

"The cookie might have crumbled, but only the bravest can crumble your heart."

"You're the bravest person I've ever met." Leon said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.


End file.
